Pretty Little Vampires
by PrettyLittleRachZo
Summary: There have been a lot of strange things happening lately here in Rosewood Falls, and some residents have slowly come to realize that maybe they aren't so unrelated. The arrivals of newcomers to town have raised a few eyebrows, but none more than the arrival of Alison DiLaurentis, accompanied by her friend Katherine. They're back to take down their tormentor, A, once and for all.
1. Important Details

Hello readers, and welcome to the story! We are Zo and Rach, the co-authors of this book, and we'd like to formally thank you for taking a chance on entering Rosewood Falls. This story is a crossover between Pretty Little Liars and The Vampire Diaries. We've really worked hard on creating a story line that effectively combines the two universes, and we hope you enjoy our little creation here! Please be sure to leave us comments along the way, we really enjoy nothing more.

Because this is an AU Universe, hopefully this page can help clear some things up for the fans! This will be updated continuously as the story goes on.

 **Families:**

Damon & Aria Montgomery

Caroline & Hanna Marin

Elijah & Klaus Mikaelson

Jeremy & Elena Gilbert & Mona Vanderwaal (Step siblings)

 _ **For confusion's sake, it should be noted in this AU universe, Stefan and Damon are not related, but old family friends.**_

 **Newcomers:**

Stefan Salvatore

Katherine Pierce

Klaus Mikaelson

Elijah Mikaelson

Without further ago, let's get started, shall we?

;)


	2. Playlist - Aria and Stefan

**Playlist - Aria and Stefan**

 **Secrets**

 **Angels Snow**

 _I always wanted to be something better_

 _I always wanted to shine_

 _And now I know I can't deny my nature_

 _Because I have something to hide_

 _Got a secret_

 **Strange Attractor**

 **Animal Kingdom**

 _Strange attractor_

 _Strange, strange attractor_

 _Strange attractor_

 _The light in your eyes_

 _Well it's pulling me in_

 _Yeah, it's pulling me in_

 _A heart that's still speeding up_

 _And it's coming again_

 _Yeah it's coming again_

 _How did it happen?_

 _How did it come to this?_

 _Taking me over_

 **We Found Love**

 **Rihanna**

 _Shine a light through an open door_

 _Love and life I will divide_

 _Turn away cause I need you more_

 _Feel the heartbeat in my mind_

 _It's the way I'm feeling I just can't deny_

 _But I've gotta let it go_

 _We found love in a hopeless place_

 _We found love in a hopeless place_

 _We found love in a hopeless place_

 _We found love in a hopeless place_

 **Fade Into You**

 **Mazzy Star**

 _A stranger's light comes on slowly_

 _A stranger's heart without a home_

 _You put your hands into your head_

 _And then smiles cover your heart_

 _Fade into you_

 _Strange you never knew_

 _Fade into you_

 _I think it's strange you never knew_

 **Begin Again**

 **Taylor Swift**

 _I've been spending the last eight months_

 _Thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end_

 _But on a Wednesday in a cafe I watched it begin again_

 **I've Just Seen A Face**

 **The Beatles**

 _I've just seen a face_

 _I can't forget the time or place_

 _Where we just met_

 _She's just the girl for me_

 _And I want all the world to see_

 _We've met, mmm-mmm-mmm-da-da-da_

 **Dreams**

 **Cranberries**

 _And now I tell you openly, you have my heart so don't hurt me._

 _You're what I couldn't find._

 _A totally amazing mind, so understanding and so kind;_

 _You're everything to me._

 **Can't Help Falling in Love With You**

 **Ingrid Michaelson**

 _Wise men say only fools rush in_

 _But I can't help falling in love with you_

 _Shall I stay_

 _Would it be a sin_

 _If I can't help falling in love with you_

 **Too Close**

 **Alex Clare**

 _And it feels like I am just too close to love you,_

 _There's nothing I can really say._

 _I can't lie no more, I can't hide no more,_

 _Got to be true to myself._

 _And it feels like I am just too close to love you,_

 _So I'll be on my way_.

 **Please, please, please let me get what I want**

 **The Smiths**

 _Good times for a change_

 _see, the luck I've had_

 _can make a good man_

 _turn bad_

 _So please please please_

 _let me, let me, let me_

 _let me get what I want_

 _this time_

 **I Wanna Be Yours**

 **Arctic Monkeys**

 _Secrets I have held in my heart_

 _Are harder to hide than I thought_

 _Maybe I just wanna be yours_

 _I wanna be yours, I wanna be yours_

 _Wanna be yours, wanna be yours, wanna be yours_

 **Lights**

 **Interpol**

 _All that I see_

 _Show me your ways_

 _Teach me to meet my desires_

 _With some grace_

 **Under the Influence**

 **Elle King**

 _Under the influence, I got no defense_

 _It might be criminal, but still I just can't quit_

 _Under the influence, I'll take the consequence_

 _Well if it's poisonous, let it take my last breath_

 _Under the influence_

 **Feeling Okay**

 **Best Coast**

 _Today I know I feel ok_

 _Baby look at me with those eyes of grey_

 _But I'll keep trying to stay this way_

 _I know it's love that's got me feeling ok_

 **I Belong in Your Arms**

 **Chairlift**

 _Because the world goes on without us_

 _It doesn't matter what we do_

 _All silhouettes with no regrets_

 _When I'm melting into you_

 _I belong in your arms_

 _I belong in your arms_

 **She Changes The Weather**

 **Swim Deep**

 _She takes my time, but I don't mind_

 _She makes me feel like_

 _Like I can see for miles._

 _She changes the weather in my world,_

 _Seems like it's never getting cold._

 **Wings**

 **Haerts**

I'll never let the magic go.

I'll float away into your afterglow

I'll never let you go.

I'll melt away into your afterglow.

 **Heartbeat**

 **JJAMZ**

 _Can you hear my heartbeat?_

 _Please don't stand so close to me._

 _Can you hear my heartbeat still beating strong?_

 **Clearest Blue**

 **Chvrches**

 _Just another time we're caught inside_

 _Every open eye_

 _Holding on tightly to the sides_

 _Never quite learning why_

 _You'll meet me, you'll meet me_

 _You'll meet me halfway_

 _Whenever I feel it coming on_

 _You can be well aware_

 _If ever I try to push you away_

 _You can just keep me there_

 _So please say you'll meet me_

 _Meet me halfway_

 **Fresh Pair of Eyes**

 **Brooke Waggoner**

 _'Cause I want to be seen_

 _With a fresh pair of eyes_

 _The single white tree_

 _In a black hood of disguise_

 **Style**

 **Taylor Swift**

 _I should just tell you to leave 'cause I_

 _Know exactly where it leads but I_

 _Watch us go 'round and 'round each time_

 _You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye_

 _And I got that red lip classic thing that you like_

 _And when we go crashing down, we come back every time_

 _'Cause we never go out of style_

 _We never go out of style_

 **Tighten Up**

 **Black Keys**

 _I wanted love, I needed love,_

 _Most of all, most of all_

 _Someone said true love was dead_

 _And I'm bound to fall, bound to fall_

 _For you_

 _Oh, what can I do?_

 _Yeah_

 **Dreams**

 **Passion Pit**

 _Now I tell you openly_

 _You have my heart so don't hurt me_

 _For what I couldn't find_

 _A totally amazing mind_

 _So understanding and so kind_

 _You're everything to me_

 **Gravity**

 **Sara Bareilles**

 _Something always brings me back to you._

 _It never takes too long._

 _No matter what I say or do I'll still feel you_

 _here 'til the moment I'm gone._

 **Never Let Me Go**

 **Florence & The Machine**

 _And it's breaking over me_

 _A thousand miles down to the sea bed_

 _I found the place to rest my head_

 _(Never let me go, never let me go_

 _Never let me go, never let me go)_

 **If You Leave**

 **OMD**

 _If you leave, don't leave now_

 _Please don't take my heart away_

 _Promise me, just one more night_

 _Then we'll go our separate ways_

 _We've always had time on our side_

 _Now it's fading fast_

 _Every second, every moment_

 _We've gotta make it last_

 **Just Like Heaven**

 **The Cure**

 _Spinning on that dizzy edge_

 _I kissed her face and kissed her head_

 _And dreamed of all the different ways I had_

 _To make her glow_

 _"Why are you so far away?" she said_

 _"Why won't you ever know that I'm in love with you_

 _That I'm in love with you"_

 _You_

 _Soft and only_

 _You_

 _Lost and lonely_

 _You_

 _Strange as angels_

 _Dancing in the deepest oceans_

 _Twisting in the water_

 _You're just like a dream_

 **I Always Knew**

 **The Vaccines**

 _Down, down in my bones_

 _Somewhere I'd never have known_

 _Right at the back of my head_

 _It hit me like a beam of light_

 _Hit me like a hook of the right_

 _And I could have fell to the floor_

 _'Cause you talk to me and it comes off the wall_

 _You talk to me and it goes over my head_

 _So let's go to bed before you say something real_

 _Let's go to bed before you say how you feel_

 _'Cause it's you_

 _Oh, it's always you_

 _Oh, I always knew_

 _Oh, it's you_


	3. Playlist - Hanna and Damon

**Playlist - Hanna and Damon**

 **Stay (feat. Mikky Ekko)**

 **Rihanna**

 _All along it was a fever_

 _A cold sweat, hot headed believer_

 _I threw my hands in the air I said show me something_

 _He said, if you dare come a little closer_

 **Monster**

 **Imagine Dragons**

 _If I told you what I was,_

 _Would you turn your back on me?_

 _And if I seem dangerous,_

 _Would you be scared?_

 _I get the feeling just because_

 _Everything I touch isn't dark enough_

 _That this problem lies in me_

 **Seven Devils**

 **Florence + The Machine**

 _Seven devils all around me!_

 _Seven devils in my house!_

 _See they were there when I woke up this morning_

 _And I'll be dead before the day is done_

 **Creature Fear**

 **Bon Iver**

 _The so many territories_

 _Ready to reform_

 _Don't let it form us_

 _Don't let it form us_

 _The creature fear_

 **Reptilia**

 **The Strokes**

 _I said please don't slow me down_

 _If I'm going too fast_

 _You're in a strange part of our town..._

 _Yeah, the night's not over_

 _You're not trying hard enough_

 **A Girl Like You**

 **Edwyn Collins**

 _You give me just a taste so I want more and more_

 _Now my hands are bleeding and my knees are raw_

 _Cause now you've got me crawlin', crawlin' on the floor_

 _And I've never known a girl like you before_

 _You've made me acknowledge the devil in me_

 **Electric Love**

 **BORNS**

 _Candy, she's sweet like candy in my veins_

 _Baby, I'm dying for another taste_

 _And every night my mind is running around her_

 _Thunder's getting louder and louder_

 **Everlasting Light**

 **The Black Keys**

 _Let me be your everlasting light_

 _The sun when there is none_

 _I'm a shepherd for you_

 _And I'll guide you through_

 _Let me be your everlasting light_

 **Ships in the Night**

 **Mat Kearney**

 _Like ships in the night_

 _You keep passing me by_

 _We're just wasting time_

 _Trying to prove who's right_

 _And if it all goes crashing into the sea_

 _If it's just you and me_

 _T_ _rying to find the light_

 **Mercy**

 **Duffy**

 _I don't know what you do_

 _But you do it well_

 _I'm under your spell_

 _You got me begging you for mercy_

 _Why won't you release me_

 **Your Touch**

 **Blake Lewis**

 _I'm thinking you and I_

 _Should roll the dice, get lost in our forever_

 _'Cause I'm feeling intoxicated_

 _I wanna taste the air that you've been breathing_

 **Sail**

 **AWOLNATION**

 _Maybe I should cry for help_

 _Maybe I should kill myself (myself)_

 _Blame it on my A.D.D. baby_

 _Maybe I'm a different breed_

 _Maybe I'm not listening_

 **Fix You**

 **Coldplay**

 _Lights will guide you home_

 _And ignite your bones_

 _And I will try to fix you_

 _And high up above or down below_

 _When you're too in love to let it go_

 **How Does It Feel**

 **Eskimo Joe**

 _You live so much, its like you're dying_

 _You can't give up, you're body's trying_

 _You build so tall its like you're flying_

 _But rocks will fall; the sky keeps climbing_

 **Find a Way**

 **Tyler Blackburn**

 _And all the stars are shining in your eyes_

 _Well all the wreckage lays to burn_

 _Could we find a place beyond the lies_

 _Well I'll be here when you return_

 **For Everything a Reason**

 **Carina Round**

 _Yeah those who loved before will be brought back together_

 _And so they say baby, for everything a reason_

 _And so they say baby you will be brought_

 _brought back to me_

 **Somewhere Only We Know**

 **Keane**

 _Oh simple thing, where have you gone?_

 _I'm getting old and I need something to rely on_

 _So tell me when you're gonna let me in_

 _I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin_

 **Ride**

 **Lana Del Ray**

 _I've been out on that open road_

 _You can be my full time, daddy white and gold_

 _Singing blues has been getting old_

 _You can be my full time, baby_

 _Hot or cold_

 **Out Of The Woods**

 **Taylor Swift**

 _Remember when you hit the brakes too soon_

 _Twenty stitches in a hospital room_

 _When you started crying_

 _Baby, I did too_

 _But when the sun came up_

 _I was looking at you_

 **Secrets**

 **OneRepublic**

 _Tell me what you want to hear_

 _Something that will light those ears_

 _Sick of all the insincere_

 _I'm gonna give all my secrets away_

 **Give Me Love**

 **Ed Sheeran**

 _Give me love like her,_

 _'Cause lately I've been waking up alone,_

 _Paint splattered teardrops on my shirt,_

 _Told you I'd let them go,_

 _And that I'll fight my corner,_

 _Maybe tonight I'll call ya,_

 _After my blood turns into alcohol,_

 **Lisbon**

 **Wolf Alice**

 _I would wait for you there just give me the breath to say it_

 _Back together Swallow the fear_

 _My stone cold fox_

 _My arms are here_

 _I've been ready for so long_

 _And I would lick your wounds and care_

 **You Know I'm No Good**

 **Amy Winehouse**

 _I cheated myself_

 _Like I knew I would_

 _I told ya I was trouble_

 _You know that I'm no good_

 **Flaws and All**

 **Beyonce**

 _I'm a puzzle yes in deed_

 _Ever complex in every way_

 _And all the pieces aren't even in the box_

 _And yet, you see the picture clear as day._

 _I don't know why you love me_

 _And that's why I love you_

 **Handsome**

 **The Vaccines**

 _You think you look good in whatever they sugarcoat you in_

 _If my body is a temple you can worship at my feet but it might kick you in the teeth some_

 _So even when you're spitting blood you would save a thought for me_

 _Cos I got so down I held the world to ransom_

 _Lonely, bored and bad thank god I'm handsome (so handsome)_

 **Do I Wanna Know?**

 **Arctic Monkeys**

 _So have you got the guts?_

 _Been wondering if your heart's still open and if so I wanna know what time it shuts_

 _Simmer down and pucker up_

 _I'm sorry to interrupt. It's just I'm constantly on the cusp of trying to kiss you_

 _I don't know if you feel the same as I do_

 _But we could be together if you wanted to_

 **I** **f You Were Here**

 **Thompson Twins**

 _If you were here_

 _I could deceive you_

 _And if you were here_

 _You would believe_

 _But would you suspect_

 _My emotion wandering, yeah_

 _Do not want a part of this anymore_

 **One Week of Danger (Demo Version)**

 **The Virgins**

 _Come on baby we can belong_

 _Please don't you spoil it_

 _Don't state whats wrong_

 _Let's get together_


	4. 1 - Part One

**1 - Part One**

Hello there readers, and welcome to Rosewood Falls. There have been a lot of strange things happening lately here, and some residents have slowly come to realize that maybe they aren't so unrelated. The slow arrivals of newcomers to town over the last few months have raised a few eyebrows, but none more than the arrival of Alison DiLaurentis, accompanied by her friend Katherine. Presumed to be dead, Alison has just made reappearance in Rosewood Falls, and no one can quite piece together what happened to the girl during her disappearance, or why and how she left the small town in the first place. What the town citizens don't know? Alison and Katherine are vampires, and they're back to take down their tormentor, A, once and for all. What could go wrong? Welcome to Rosewood Falls.

Rosewood Falls is a small town located in Virginia, which has a long, complicated history filled with tales of the supernatural. For years its residents have lived in peace and shelter from the knowledge of these other worldly beings, but something tells us that's not going to last a whole lot longer. Trouble is brewing in Rosewood Falls, and it's only a matter of time until something breaks the perfect small town's exterior. So, join us for the introductory part one, where you'll meet all of our friendly stars of the show. As authors, there's nothing we love more than your interaction, so please feel free to give us your feedback, and let us know what you'd like to see available in part two of the series! Leave us a comment anywhere, just to say hello. Hope you enjoy, and give us a like if you do! And now, without further ado...


	5. 1:2 – Prologue

**1.2 – Prologue**

Elena Gilbert tried her hardest to gather herself and fix every hair that had come askew and every wrinkle left in her dress. " Well, that was definitely one of the best poetry readings I've ever been to." She laughed awkwardly as she turned to face the incredibly cute guy staring at her with those adorable puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah, I've never had anyone like my work quite that much." Ezra Fitz laughed with an equal level of wavering in his voice, but hardly taking an eye off Elena. He buttoned up the last button of his shirt and kissed her quickly on the cheek before grabbing her hand and leading her out of the bathroom of the funky local bookstore, glancing around to make sure the coast was clear of older, prudish customers who might not approve of what just happened in the bathroom of this establishment.

Elena felt slightly mortified as they exited the shop; she had never done anything quite like that before in her life. Who was she? The Elena Gilbert she knew didn't hook up with cute strangers in bookstore bathrooms. But, then again, she was fairly certain she had never been more attracted to someone in her entire life, so she gave herself a free pass on this one.

Once they were outside, he walked her to her car, and as he leaned in for a for a kiss he whispered, "So, when do I get to see you again?"

She giggled lightly before responding, "Depends on when you've got some new work for me to review."

* * *

"Ugh we're going to be late, Care!" Hanna yelled upstairs from the kitchen to her older sister Caroline. Seriously, how was it possible that it took her this long to get ready. Like, okay, it was the first day of school, she got that, but Hanna was totally ready to head out the door and her nerves were making her seriously jumpy. The first day back after summer always meant making a great first impression, and how could she do that if she wasn't even there to begin with? "Come on, Care!" More annoyance filled her voice this time as she tapped her fingers on the marble countertop.

Caroline on the other hand, was taking every last second she possibly could in front of the mirror. With one last curl of her curling iron, she winked at herself in the mirror with a laugh and headed downstairs to her clearly annoyed younger sister. "I'm coming, I'm coming, stop freaking out." She rolled her eyes as she grabbed her bag off a kitchen chair and the keys to her car. "So, are you sure this dress works?" Caroline questioned her sister for one last time, spinning around to model her outfit, if only to annoy her further.

"Oh my god, if you ask me that again I think I'll actually scream." Hanna laughed as she grabbed her things and rushed out the door with her sister in tow.

* * *

A strong gust of wind blew across the main road of Rosewood Falls, and Stefan Salvatore noticed a few fall leaves that were beginning to turn with the approaching season, falling lightly before getting caught in the wind

A strong gust of wind blew across the main road of Rosewood Falls, and Stefan Salvatore noticed a few fall leaves that were beginning to turn with the approaching season, falling lightly before getting caught in the wind. He made his way through the little streets of the town before turning up an old, almost abandoned road towards a large mansion that loomed over town. After all these years of running, he somehow had ended up back home. He took out an old, rusted key and turned the lock of the giant, imposing doors that opened for him with a creak. This would definitely be an interesting new start.

* * *

"So what do you even do with this thing?" Damon fiddled with the strange metal object he picked up off Aria's bathroom counter as he waited for his sister to get ready.

"It's an eyelash curler" Aria replied to his question matter-of-factly, focusing more on the winged eyeliner look she was trying to perfect than Damon's silly, distracting questions.

"Huh, looks more like a torture device. You could do some serious damage with this." Damon fiddled with it for another minute or so until the thing flipped out of his hands and flew across the room. Aria gave him a death glare before ignoring his presence again. But, Damon was not going to be discouraged from his pestering, so he continued on. "So, are you going out with that Chris kid or not?" Chris was some kid on the baseball team that had been pining for Aria all summer.

"I don't know, I haven't decided yet." Aria sighed in annoyance. She honestly hadn't thought much of Chris, he just wasn't really her type.

"You seriously need to put that kid out of his misery, one way or the other. It's just getting pathetic." Damon's personal favorite moments were telling the kid off every time he showed up to the house with some dinky bouquet of flowers. "Hey, if you need me to beat him up at any time, please let me know, I'd be more than happy to oblige."

Aria finally stopped what she was doing to question her brother. "No! What? Why would I need that?" He really wasn't that bad a guy, just a little too clingy.

"You never know, Aria. I could come in handy."

Aria picked up a hand towel that was matted into a ball shape and threw it straight in Damon's direction. "Damon, will you just let me get ready?"

He laughed as he caught it smoothly in the air before leaving with a smirk. "Alright, but don't forget that I'm the one with the keys"


	6. 1:3 - First Day of School

**1.3 - First Day of School**

Aria walked into her first class. Already exhausted from dealing with her brother Damon. Slipping into her usual chair - center, a few rows into the back of the classroom, she pulled out her small, black diary out of her backpack and began to write.

Combing her fingers through her hair, trying to get all the stray hairs out of her face while she worked, she suddenly saw a pair of black shoes stop in front of her. Looking up, she gazed at a tall, gorgeous, blond-haired boy, who was staring at her, giving some 'James Dean real-ness': cool, mysterious, wearing a black shirt and leather jacket.

"Hey. Is this seat taken?" The boy gestured to the seat behind her.

"No. Go for it," She smiled nervously. Why was she so awkward sometimes?

The boy began to walk behind her to his seat, "My name's Stefan. I'm new here," Slowly taking his jacket off, he leaned towards Aria.

Aria peered over her shoulder, "Oh. Well, welcome! My name's Aria," she replied, with a smile on her face.

The boy put his muscled arms on his desk, "Thanks. Aria, pretty name," he replied. Aria couldn't focus on anything but his piercing, beautiful, brown eyes.

Aria turned slowly back around, biting her lip slightly. She couldn't tell if she was blushing or not. As class started, Aria kept peering back to catch another glimpse at this new student,who was writing intently into his leather bound notebook. Aria knew that he wasn't like most boys in this school or even in this whole entire town. He was different and she wanted to know more...

* * *

"Hey Em, wait up!" Jeremy Gilbert called back from down the school hallway.

Emily Fields stopped, her hands clutching her books to her chest. She smoothly brushed her brown hair across her shoulder and smiled at her best friend, "Hey, Jer- Are you actually coming to class today?"

"Nah, skipping. Why don't you join me sometime?" Jeremy smiled at Emily. He laughed.

Emily stopped at her locker. She opened it and began to put her books away, "No way. One of these days you're gonna get in trouble, Gilbert," she replied sarcastically.

Jeremy laughed back, and made a "shh" motion with his finger. He rested his back against a locker besides Emily's.

"So why're you skipping class today?" Emily asked, closing her locker and resting her shoulder on the door to face Jeremy.

"Spencer's been really... just annoying lately. I can't really explain it, but I just am kind of avoiding her at the moment." Jeremy replied.

Emily shrugged, "I'm sure you guy's will work it out. You've been friends forever."

Jeremy looked back towards Emily, "I know it sounds cheesy, but I don't think were both really into this anymore."

The school bell rang, Jeremy and Emily both looked up and started to go down the opposite ends of the hallway.

"Well, I have to go to class. Wanna meet up at the grill after school?"

"Sure, Ems..." Jeremy smiled and brushed her shoulder playfully. Emily smiled back timidly. Even if things didn't work out with him and Spencer, Emily would always have a best friend.

* * *

After the end of school, Elena rushed down the hallway, relieved that the first day of school was finally over. Still dreaming about the guy that she had met the day before, she wanted to call Ezra back a.s.a.p., but Caroline had told her to make him wait a little while longer.

Gliding down the hallway, squeezing through the end of school traffic, she bumped into a tall man, spilling the coffee out of his hands, "Oh my god. I'm so sorry. I-" she bent down to the floor, grabbing some tissues out of her back pack. However, she looked up after hearing a familiar, low-sounding voice coming from above her head, "Elena?" Ezra Fitz replied, his face had turned pale with a serious expression.

Elena stood up quickly, "Um... Ezra, what are you doing here?" she whispered, standing up nervously. She pulled a strand of her hair from her face, gathering her books and picking up the fallen debris that Ezra had dropped.

"I work here." He replied. He slowly began to gesture for them to move into a quieter corner at the end of the hallway, "I... thought I mentioned it."

"Well, we didn't really have a lot of time to talk," Elena said, looking back at him with a serious, yet awkward look on her face, "I'm sorry about your coffee," she continued, handing back a wad of damp tissues and a crushed Styrofoam cup.

"Yeah. We didn't really...," Ezra began to reply, but was cut off by another teacher calling his name.

"Go, it's fine," Elena said.

"We should talk later, though." Ezra said, nervously trying to hold himself in one place.

Elena scribbled on a piece of paper which she pulled out from her backpack. She handed it to Ezra and began to walk away, "I have to go. I'll see you later Ezra."

Ezra put the note inside of his pocket and walked in the opposite direction, but kept his eyes fixed on Elena until she was out of his sight.


	7. 1:4 - The Ali Situation

**1.4 - The Ali Situation**

As the last bell rang at Rosewood Falls High, Hanna breathed a sigh of relief. The first day of school had officially come and gone, and she somehow made it through without so much as a scratch on her already flawless reputation as one of the resident Queen B's. As she skirted out the classroom door as quickly as possible, she saw a familiar head of dark brown locks rushing out of another classroom across the hall. "Hey Aria! Wait up!" She called to her friend with a grin as she ran up to her. "Hey! Okay so glad I ran into you, I think it's time we all called an emergency meeting at my place. Already texted Spence and Em, what do you think?"

Aria didn't even have to say what the meeting was about, Hanna understood her immediately. They had to talk about the Ali situation. She was officially back from the dead, somehow, and constantly guarded by that intimidating girl, Katherine. Whatever was going on, Hanna didn't like it, and she could tell from Aria's tone, and worried expression, neither did she. It just all seemed too fishy, and Ali had to be up to some of her old tricks. "I'm totally with you. Let's go."

The girls headed out towards the school's entrance where a sleek, midnight blue, 1960's Chevy convertible was parked, waiting for them to hop on in. And of course, in the driver's seat sat Aria's older brother, Damon.

"Well hello there ladies!" He shouted out at them from behind his dark aviator sunglasses. "Best first day of school ever?!" He teased with a smirk of delight at seeing his sister's friend Hanna. There was just something about that girl that either irritated him or fascinated him, but he couldn't quite pinpoint it. His grin only grew larger as he saw every girl within a hundred foot radius staring right at him and his flawless car. Damon was a notorious womanizer in Rosewood, much to Aria's distain. She was constantly trying to get him to settle down, and he wasn't completely opposed to the idea, he just hadn't found the right girl yet.

"And just when I thought this day couldn't get any more boring, look who it is. Damon." Hanna threw a passive aggressive remark his way with a smirk equaling his as they hopped into the backseat.

Damon reached around his chair to lean towards them. "Is that any way to treat an old friend? Come on now, Hanna, you know you're glad to see me." He gave her a sly wink. Sure, Hanna had to admit, it was pretty fun to argue with him, even if he did drive her totally and completely nuts.

Aria had had just about enough of this however, and she gave him a mocking punch on the shoulder as she exclaimed, "Cut it out guys, let's go!"

Damon slid back into his driving position and revved the engine, just to give all the girls watching a little show. "Alright, as you wish." The engine sprang into action and the girls burst into laugher while they were knocked back into their seats by sheer force of the speeding start of the car.

* * *

"I'll get it!" Emily jumped off the couch she had really just sat down on in Aria's living room to get the front door. She swung it open to reveal Spencer Hastings, the only missing member of the group. "Yeah, we really need to talk." Spencer remarked off the cuff as she walked past Emily and made a beeline for the couch. "And hello to you too, Spence." Emily laughed as she joined the group again.

"Guys, something is seriously up." Spencer continued, making herself comfortable.

"Has anyone even talked to Ali since she's been back?" Aria questioned the group with a quizzical expression.

"No, no one can get near her without that Katherine freak getting all up in your face." Hanna scoffed with a throw of her hand.

"I just don't like this. I mean, we all knew she was back, but something's changed, something's different." Aria continued as she lay back into the couch.

"Well yeah, she's not like a ghost or a zombie! That's the only way I ever figured she'd come back from the dead." Hanna rolled her eyes.

"Hanna." Spencer checked her friend, trying to keep the conversation to a point.

"What, it's true! Come on you guys, who would have thought two months ago, we'd be here, talking about this?" Hanna was getting frustrated, not at her friends, but at this whole ridiculous situation.

"-A did. They knew this was going to happen, I'm sure they planned the whole thing." Emily remarked seriously, a grim expression on her face.

"You think Ali's working with –A? And Katherine?" Aria questioned.

"I don't know what to think anymore. All I know is we're getting to the bottom of this, any way possible." Spencer shook her head, trying to come up with a plan.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Hanna wondered out loud.

"Maybe it's time we all pay Ali a visit, and see what she has to say." Spencer crossed her arms as she spoke, and the girls all gave her an approving nod. This time, Ali wasn't getting away so easily, even if it meant confronting Katherine too.

* * *

All the other girls had gone, Aria was outside saying goodbye, and Hanna had volunteered to help clean up the snacks and things they had been snacking on in the kitchen. She was just washing the last dish as she heard footsteps accompanied by a familiar, sarcastic voice. "So, you girls all done with your little tea party?" Damon questioned her from the doorway.

"Yeah, sadly we all lost our appetites as soon as you walked in that door." Hanna scoffed as she worked on drying the last dish.

"Ouch, Hanna, you know just where to kick a guy when he's down." Damon moved closer, leaning against the counter right next to her.

"Really? What do you have to be so down about?" She squinted at him with a laugh. If she knew Damon Montgomery, it was only as the carefree, easy going, and totally narcissistic brother of her best friend.

"Oh, you know, life, the universe, everything." Damon took the dish out of her hand and put it on the counter, before moving much closer to her, maybe a little too close for comfort. "Did anyone ever tell you, you have the bluest eyes?"

"Did anyone ever tell you you've got the most annoying smirk?"

"Oh, you mean this one?" He was so close now their matching smirks were just inches apart.

"Mhmm if only I could do something to wipe it right off."

"Oh I can think of a few things..."

Hanna's eyebrows raised at his remark, but just before she could bite him back with her brilliant words, Aria's voice came shouting through the hall. "Hanna, your mom's out front!"

Hanna instead, cleared her throat and quickly backed away from Damon as she realized the slightly compromising position she was in. "Right! Thanks, yeah... coming Aria." Her brain in a bit of a mist, she made her way towards the front door, but glanced back at the man behind her who had put her head in a little bit of a spin.

"Goodnight, Ms. Marin." Damon winked back at her with a wave of his hand. Yes, she could be a lot of fun.

* * *

Spencer, Aria, and Emily headed outside towards the familiar car parked in Aria's driveway. "Hey Jer!" Spencer yelled with a wave at her boyfriend, Jeremy Gilbert, leaning against his car.

"Hey! You guys have a fun time?" He asked as he gave her a quick, obligatory kiss on the cheek.

"Of course, per usual." Spencer replied with a grin and a laugh, glancing over at her friends and trying not to reveal the truth about their meeting. That had to be kept a complete secret. She suddenly realized she was missing something before she could join him in the car to head home. "Oh gosh, totally forgot my bag. Aria, did I leave it in your room?"

"Yeah, I think I saw it there?" Aria tried to remember with a shake of her head.

"One sec, Jer, we'll be right back!" Spencer called as she and Aria took off back towards the house.

"Well, you look great... as always." Jeremy complimented Emily to break the awkward silence, but only regretted the words coming out of his mouth.

Emily let out an awkward laugh with a shake of her head. "Thanks, what does that mean?"

"Nothing, nothing." He laughed too, taking back his words. "Still want to go to the grill later?"

"Please don't tell me you're behind on your homework already."

"No! No – it's not a study thing, I just..."

"Want to talk about Spencer. You mentioned something earlier?"

"Right - yeah, that's it." Jeremy nodded, grateful she completed his sentence for him so he didn't make another awkward misstep.

"Well, I'm happy to help. Anything for you guys."

"Of course. Well I'm just excited to..."

But Jeremy was cut off as Spencer came back, bounding out of the house, bag in hand. "Found it! Okay let's go!"

"Right, yeah." Jeremy nodded as they hopped in the car.

"Later Em!" Spencer waved to her friend out the window before they sped off.

"Bye guys!" Emily chimed in with a wave, waiting for her mom to pull up any minute now.


	8. 1:5 - Klaus Returns

**1.5 - Klaus Returns**

"Bourbon on the rocks, please," Alison DiLaurentis murmured to the bartender.

"We're closing soon, miss. And I'm gonna need to see some ID," the young man stared at her, half smiling at this beautiful, blonde girl who looked too young to be sitting at this bar.

Alison smiled and stared at him with her piercing blue eyes, "No. I don't think I am and I think that the bar is gonna stay open until my friend gets here."

The bartender froze. Shaking his head, he began to fix her drink, "Oh right. No problem." He set the drink in front of her and Alison finished it all in one gulp.

Alison looked around. She caught a glimpse at one of those missing person ads on the wall behind the bar, "Missing: Alison DiLaurentis." She looked down and grinned. Oh, how wrong that sign was.

Then, a tall, muscular, blond-haired boy walked up - Matt Donavan. Looking at Alison he gestured to see if he could clear her glass, "You all done, Miss?" Matt had just moved into Rosewood Falls - a local waiter at the Rosewood Grill.

Alison turned around. Both of their blue eyes matched each other's, "Yeah, all done, pretty eyes." Alison winked at Matt.

Matt blushed, "I haven't seen you around before. Did you just move into town?"

"You could say that..." Alison replied, flipping a curl of blond hair over to the side, "But I'm starting to like this place even more now that I've seen you," she continued, wrinkling her nose a little bit.

Matt looked at her. An overpowering sense of emotion filled his body. It wasn't love. But somehow he felt immediately drawn to this beautiful, blonde stranger, "Well, I don't know how I could ever forget you. Hopefully seen you around then?" Matt replied, looking at her with his sincere, puppy-dog eyes.

"Definitely," Alison spoke. She felt an instant chemistry with Matt. He was everything she wished for in a guy: nice, honest, loyal. However, as Matt walked away, she felt a 'pang' inside of her heart. Her face turned pale and the flirty smile that she once had dropped from her face: Katherine was here.

Suddenly, a tall, thin, brunette woman walked into the room (bearing an identical resemblance to Elena). The shadow from the door framing her figure, she gazed at the girl with a malicious smile, "Hey Alison. Miss me?"

* * *

"Wait a minute. You think that Ben Affleck makes a convincing Batman?" Emily laughed mockingly.

"No! I didn't say that. I said that I thought that his portrayal wasn't all that bad ... don't judge me!" Jeremy replied defensively.

"Hm... Well I guess he's better than George Clooney, or even Christian Bale with that weird gruff voice that sounds like he has strep throat," Emily replied earnestly.

Jeremy jumped in front of Emily, "Hey Emily," he changed his voice, "I'm Batman."

Emily jokingly pushed him, "Shut up! But not bad...," she said, giggling and curling her lip in acknowledgement.

Jeremy straightened his face and then continued walking with Emily, "Thanks for meeting me tonight, Em."

Emily smiled, "No problem. You were there for me when Bonnie left, so it's the least I can do." Emily's face suddenly dropped. She hadn't said Bonnie's name out loud in conversation since their breakup because it was just too painful to hear.

Jeremy put his arm around Emily's shoulder, "Hey, you okay?"

Emily looked over at him, "Yeah, I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here. The other girls, sort of, they don't really understand." Emily cut off. She heard Spencer's voice calling Jeremy from across the street.

"HEY JERE," Spencer yelled. She jogged across the street and kissed Jeremy on the lips. Giving a nervous, almost jealous look at Emily.

"You're still coming to my house later right?" Spencer looked at him, with a pleading look.

Jeremy looked over at Emily apologetically, "Yeah sure, Spence, let's go. Em, I'll see you later?" Jeremy grabbed Spencer's hand and walked off.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," Emily replied as she watched Jeremy and Spencer walk hand in hand down the street - getting further and further away from her.

* * *

"Care! ANTM is about to start!" Hanna shouted from the couch in the living room.

"All right, all right, I'm coming," Caroline said, as she rushed into the room, wearing her cutest PJ's and carrying in a bowl of popcorn.

"Has there ever been a time when you weren't late for something?" Hanna said to Caroline, rolling her eyes.

"Hey? Do you think that this all just happens magically?" Caroline snapped back, gesturing to her whole face and body.

"Oh I'm sorry. I guess there isn't enough makeup in the world to hide that ugly." Hanna laughed, flinging some popcorn at Caroline's face.

"Hey, don't forget that we're related," Caroline remarked snidely, throwing the same popcorn back at Hanna.

Hanna brushed the popcorn off and onto to the floor, "So...I saw Damon today."

Caroline smiled and said nothing.

"He kind of looked sad, I don't know," Hanna replied, looking back at the TV.

"Han...Damon Montgomery doesn't have one 'feeling bone' in his body. I mean, he has one, but don't ever go near it if you know what I'm saying," Caroline said, looking over at her sister with a worried, yet sarcastic look.

"I know, that's why I kind of feel bad for him. I know the only reason he's so mean is to push people away. I mean, we do the same thing," Hanna replied, looking back at her sister.

"Han. There's a difference. We're actually good people underneath. Damon is not," Caroline said defiantly. She looked at her sister then continued to watch more of the photoshoots happening on TV.

Hanna looked down. She grabbed her phone and scrolled through her pictures. Looking at one of her candid pics that she took of Aria at her house, she zoomed in on Damon in the background and gazed at it intently, "He couldn't be as bad as everyone says."

* * *

"So, what was up with you and Hanna today in the kitchen?" Aria said, looking up from her book, slumped on the couch, she turned her head to look at Damon.

Damon looked over from his chair. Scotch glass in hand, "I don't know what you're talking about," he replied, with a small smirk.

"Cut it out Damon. That whole snarky thing doesn't work on me. I know you like Hanna," Aria spoke matter-of-factly.

Damon rolled his eyes and scoffed back, "I'm not in middle school, Aria. I don't like girls. They all just go after me. I don't do relationships."

Aria pursed her lips, "I don't get why. You're a good guy underneath it all."

"Can we spare the pep talk please? I'm really not in the mood tonight." Damon snapped back, "You try to fix me up all the time. I don't want it okay?"

Aria looked back at her book, "Fine."

Damon softened a little. After all, she was his little sister, "So how was school today by the way? Learn anything?" He replied, half inquisitively but half sarcastically.

"Um, not much... met this new kid today... Stefan?"

Damon's eyes widened. He stiffened his back and jerked his head over to Aria, "What?"

Aria looked back to Damon with a puzzled look, "Um, his name's Stefan? Is that bad or something?"

Suddenly, Damon got up from his chair and nervously started to head upstairs, "No," he continued, "Just, I've heard about him from around town. Just, keep your distance okay?"

"Why?" Aria replied, turning her head around abruptly.

"I'm just looking out for you," Damon said, as he walked towards Aria, kissed her on the forehead and headed upstairs towards his room.

* * *

11:30 pm:

Caroline turned off the TV. Hanna had fallen asleep again on the couch and Caroline put a blanket over her sister. She started to clear up all the popcorn and dishes, when she heard the doorbell ring. Caroline set the dishes down on the coffee table and looked up inquisitively. Her ears perked up as she tried to catch any noise that was coming from outside the house. She approached the door cautiously.

Guarding herself with the door, she peered her eyes over to see who this late night visitor could be. Suddenly, her jaw (literally) dropped.

"Klaus?" She whispered, stunned to see this bearded, handsome, yet menacing-looking man standing before her.

"Hello Caroline," Klaus replied in an enchanting English accent, holding both of his hands behind his back, "Did you miss me?"


	9. 1:6 – Reunited

**1.6 – Reunited**

Caroline's eyes widened at the sight of Klaus' familiar face. The last time she had seen him was the time that they... but he had promised that he would stay far away from Rosewood Falls. That was their bargain to her admission of her feelings towards him. "What're you doing here?" She questioned with a shake of her head in pure confusion and shock.

"Well, now that's not quite the response I was hoping for now was it." Klaus smirked at her, relishing in his perfectly planned entrance back into her life. There was no way he would stay apart from his beloved for this long, not if he could help it.

"You broke your promise."

"Now, you honestly didn't think I could keep that one, could you? I'm not a hero, Caroline, I don't abide by that moral code you and your little friends so desperately cling to. What I know is how I feel, and after that incredible afternoon with you, you didn't think I could possibly give up that easily?" He leaned in towards her, hand on the door frame.

"Right, of course, so I just shouldn't have trusted you." Her eyes narrowed at him, though her heartbeat picked up pace. There was just something about him that she couldn't deny her attraction to, and there was no reason to now, since she had already proved that to him once before.

"Now come on love, I know you wanted to see me again. Admit it, you're glad I'm here. You can't tell me that day didn't mean something to you, I've lived thousands of years and by now I can read people like a book, and you, Caroline, enjoyed it. In fact, I'd go so far as to say you're curious about what might happen with me." He cocked an eyebrow in her direction as he moved even closer. "Besides, you and Tyler are done for good, are you not?"

Her eyes rolled at the thought of Tyler. They were definitely so over. "Yeah. We're finally done. So, I'm sure you're thrilled about that one."

"Truth be told, I'm ecstatic. But, of course I don't like the idea that he hurt you. Might I come in for a while?"

Caroline paused for a moment to bite her lip in thought. Was she really about to let Klaus back into her life? But, as she stared into his love struck eyes, she couldn't help but feel a ping at her own heartstrings. Could he really care for her this much? She hated the fact that he was right, she really was curious. "Yeah, sure. At this point, you've practically invited yourself over anyway." She laughed as she waved him towards the seating by the living room couch before continuing herself into the kitchen. "Tea? I was just making some before your interruption."

Klaus sat on the couch as she directed. "I'm truly sorry if I disturbed your evening. Please, that would be lovely." On second thought..."How is it possible that you're just this breathtaking, Caroline." He suddenly appeared by her side in the kitchen, his face just inches from hers.

Caroline was totally caught off guard, and she almost dropped the mug she was holding."...What?"

"You do realize how absolutely stunning you are, don't you?"

"I've really been trying to limit my time in front of the mirror down to a few hours now." She joked matter-of-factly with a smile that only captivated him even more. It was getting really hard not to be taken by his words and that dammed perfect accent. What was it that attracted her? This was a crazy lunatic killer for goodness sake! Come on! Get a hold of yourself Care. Her inner voice coached, but he was seriously not making this easy.

"You deserve someone who can appreciate such beauty. Who knows every second of the day that he's the luckiest man in the world to have won your affections." Klaus made a sudden movement and was instantly behind her, pulling her hair aside from her ear as he whispered to her, "I meant what I said Caroline. I'm going to be your last love, and take it from me, this time, I'm staying to fight for you."

Her breathing became heavy and anxious at his closeness, as she swallowed to try to calm her nerves. Oh screw it. She turned to face him, her eyes clearly asking for the kiss that was about to come. Klaus eagerly took this as a sign, and brought his hand to her cheek as he pulled her in for a passionately romantic kiss, which only deepened as she let herself go. Before she could process what was happening, their clothes were flying to the kitchen floor at a vampire fast speed. He kissed her neck, playfully biting as he went, and at her grin of satisfaction, he scooped her up and lead her towards the direction of her bedroom for a sequel to their last meeting.

* * *

Damon was just about to take a shower, but before he began to undress, he heard the ring of the doorbell. That was odd, he wasn't expecting anyone. Making his way to the front door, he swung it open to reveal his current favorite, annoying bubbly blonde. "Well! Look who it is. Just couldn't stay away, could you, Hanna." He smirked at her the way he knew she hated it, and leaned against the doorframe.

"Oh, trust me, I tried." Great, it was Damon. Aria hadn't mentioned he would be home, but he always seemed to be lazing about the house, so she shouldn't have been all that surprised.

"So are you just here to stare or are you looking for my sister?"

She rolled her eyes and ignored his first comment, though she had to admit she had spent a second glancing him up and down. "Yeah, we planned to meet up but I think I'm early, can I just come in and wait or something?"

"And how could I say no to that?" He beamed as he opened the door for her to join him inside.

"I don't know, you tell me." She pushed passed him with a typical sassy remark. Even though her words always came out biting, she had to admit it was fun to have someone around who could keep up, and stand her sassy remarks. "So what're you doing home in the middle of the day?"

"Let's just say my manager's pretty flexible." Damon laughed as he thought about his silly little job at the local bar. It was easy to get as many days off as he wanted, since not only did he not need the money, but his powers of compulsion were just as flawless as they used to be. "Can you drink yet? You should stop by for a drink."

"Legally? Yeah, that would be a no, I'm your sister's age, remember?"

"Right, right. Well, we'll have to find something else fun to do then."

"So now we're doing something fun together? Wow, I didn't know we ever made plans."

"Oh come on, Hanna, you can't say you don't just love hanging out with me,"

"Yeah, it's pretty much math class, the dentist's office, and then you."

"Ouch, I don't even make it past math? I thought Aria said that professor was hot at least, but he can't beat me in that department, right?"

Hanna laughed as she remembered the first day of math last year, and her friends swooning over the teacher. For some reason, she just didn't get it as much as they had. "Yeah, honestly he's not really my type."

"Oh, so now you have a type? Okay I'm curious, who is dream Mr. Marin?"

"The lovechild of Netflix, cake, and tequila."

"And here I thought you didn't drink." He shot her his signature grin before he continued, "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to take a shower, though I'd love to continue the conversation." Damon stated as he went behind his closet door to undress and grab a towel.

When he walked out from behind the door, Hanna could feel her breath hitch as she couldn't help but stare at his inhumanly perfect chest. "Yeah – go for it." She shook her head to get her concentration back. "Yell for me when you're in."

"Sure you don't want to join me?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow in her direction behind the bathroom door.

"Just go already." She laughed playfully as he shot her a wink. "Is it safe?"

"I don't know! You'll have to find out!"

"Damon!" She shook her head, but continued into the room anyway. For some reason Hanna just didn't want to stop talking with him. "Ugh, all this steam is going to frizz up my hair. I'm seriously going to look like a cat that's been through a dryer."

"And I haven't even turned on the hot water yet!" He joked as he continued washing up, "I guess it's just my natural heat."

"Oh shut up." She giggled as she leaned against the bathroom counter. "Okay, so, as you were saying...?"

"Right! I'm serious, so what kind of guy do you like? Someone like that ex boyfriend of yours? What was his name? That football jock?"

"His name was Sean, and he was a lot more than some dumb football player."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot, he was some dumb baseball player too."

Before Hanna had time to laugh, or come up with a good enough reply, she heard a familiar voice downstairs and the slam of the door. Aria was home. And she was in the bathroom with Damon. Naked, showering Damon. Uh oh, this was not a very good position to be in, once again, though this was a whole lot more compromising than the other day. She prayed Aria wouldn't come towards the bathroom, and maybe she could sneak out before she noticed. But sadly, only split seconds later she heard Aria's voice getting closer and closer. "Hey Damon!" Aria called out as her footsteps got closer. In a panic, Hanna's eyes widened as the door handle to the bathroom turned, and without a split second more of thought, she flung open the shower curtain and jumped in. Damon's shocked grin grew hugely wide as he turned towards Hanna, who was clearly very frazzled. Aria opened the door seconds later and called into the room. "Hey Damon, has Hanna called yet?"

Damon tried not to laugh as he turned back to Hanna, only to find her blatantly checking him out. Not that he minded, in fact, he completely and utterly was enjoying her clear embarrassment. She blushed as she bit her lip at him, but his grin only grew wider and wider. "Nope, sorry sis, haven't heard from her."

"Okay well if she does stop by, can you tell her I went to pick up something at the Café? I'll be back again in like half an hour!"

"I'll let her know if I see her!" He winked at Hanna as the door shut and they listened for her footsteps growing farther and farther away, but he took the chance to lean in and whisper, "Enjoying the view?" She gave him an agonized, playful shove and shook her head. She stayed with him in the steamy shower for a few moments longer, suddenly caught up in the situation, and slightly enjoying their closeness, but it was just a little awkwardly long, much to Damon's enjoyment. Quickly realizing this, she hopped out of the shower, breaking the moment. "What, leaving so soon? The fun hasn't even begun yet!" He pouted, pulling aside the shower curtain to reveal just his disappointed face.

"I've gotta go." Hanna stated, still confused and embarrassed by what had just happened, but maybe for the wrong reasons. "Tell Aria I'll be here in a half an hour!" She shouted at Damon as she rushed out of the house, strangely disappointed to be leaving him, but not as strikingly disappointed as he was to have her gone.


	10. 1:7 - The Plan

**1.7 - The Plan**

"Could I get a caramel macchiato to go, please?" Aria said, smiling at the barista, proceeding to hand over her credit card.

As she was in the process of paying, she heard a familiar voice. Turning over her shoulder, she saw him: it was Stefan, giving her that same sincere smile and staring at her with his piercing, brown eyes.

"Aria? Right?" He said, bowing his head down a little bit in acknowledgement.

"Yeah," Aria replied, shyly, "Stefan right?"

Stefan laughed, "Right. Sorry for saying that too many times," he gestured for them to sit at a nearby table.

As they sat in silence a moment, Aria brushed one strand of her raven-black hair across her face, "So how do you like Rosewood Falls?," she asked.

Stefan gave a coy smile, "I like it. I've met some interesting people here." His stare narrowed on Aria's doe-like, hazel eyes.

Aria looked at him with a flirtatious smile, "Yeah?"

Stefan, "At the risk of sounding repetitive, but, yes," He smiled back.

Even though The Rear Window Cafe was crowded with its usual mid-morning traffic, to an average passerby, Aria and Stefan looked at each other as if they were the only two people in the room. Their attraction was magnetic, electric, and any other words you would use to describe their intense connection.

Stefan cleared his throat, "So you write?" he said, gesturing to her notebook on the table.

Aria looked startled. No one had ever asked about her writing before. I mean, aside from the snarky Sylvia Plath-type jokes she got from Damon, "Yeah. I've been writing for my whole life, It's just something that I have to do, you know, writing down observations, thoughts I have during the day. I'm always worried I'll forget something unless I write it down."

Stefan smiled, "Me too," he replied. Aria then glanced at the same brown leather notebook in Stefan's backpack that he'd been writing in on that first day of school.

Suddenly, Hanna barged into The Rear Window, looking frantically for Aria, praying Damon hadn't let their little encounter slip to his sister.

"Aria!," Hanna yelled. She rushed over to the table and then stopped, "Oh, I didn't know you were with someone," she said, as she extended her hand out towards Stefan, in a slightly awkward motion, not knowing what to do, "I'm Hanna."

Stefan smiled at Aria and then turned to face Hanna, "Stefan."

Hanna gestured to Aria, "So should we head out then? I have something I want to talk to you about," said Hanna, as she nodded in approval at Aria's "choice."

Aria looked pleadingly at Hanna but then gave in to her friend's urgings, "Okay, Han," she replied. As she got up and gathered her stuff, she looked once more at Stefan, "You should come to the Grill with us tonight. It's where all of us kind of hang out after school. So, you should come." She giggled nervously.

"Will you be there?" Stefan asked, their intense gazes matched each other's.

As Aria began to mouth the words, Hanna jumped in, "Yeah! She'll be there!"

Stefan smiled, "Okay, see you there," he replied softly.

Hanna then grabbed her friend's arm and bit her lip slightly in excitement for her friend, "Omg he's so hot, Aria!" Hanna said as she turned around and left the cafe, Aria in tow.

Aria ran with her little legs, trying to catch up with her annoying yet lovable best friend, "Han!" she shouted, with a laugh.

* * *

"Care! I'm home!" Hanna shouted as she entered through the front door of her house. She rolled her eyes, dropped her purse on the floor and continued to dance around to the song that was playing through her phone.

Dancing her way to the kitchen, she opened up the fridge to see what kind of after school snack she could find in their leftovers. As she finished making her snack, she turned around to the counter and jumped.

"Okay who are you and what're you doing here?" She yelled, startled.

Klaus appeared. Wearing an unkempt black henley, his hair ruffled slightly, he murmured at Hanna, "Oh please love, don't stop on my account," he said, giving her a sickening grin.

Hanna ripped the ear buds out of her ears forcibly. She stared at Klaus with an equally menacing glance.

"I'm gonna ask one more time, what are you doing here?"

Klaus gave her a polite smile, his hands behind his back, "I'm here for Caroline."

Hanna rolled her eyes, "Oh. You're one of them. Just get your stuff and leave then. I know the drill. My sister's not gonna come down and make you breakfast or whatever." Hanna started to walk away but then was blocked by Klaus.

She looked over her shoulder and then back at him, wondering how he could've moved so quickly.

"Hm... you're a brave girl. What's your name?"

Hanna squinted her eyes at this weirdly precocious stranger, assuming that he was one of Caroline's many loser hookups, "Hanna, I'm Caroline's sister. What's yours, weirdo?"

Klaus smiled. He couldn't resist the directness and forcefulness of her attitude.

"Klaus," he replied, with a wide, evil grin.

Hanna matched his grin, "Well Klaus, the back door's to the left. Have a good day," she said, as she rolled her eyes, took her bowl of cereal that she had just made and continued to listen to her music while she walked upstairs.

Klaus followed her walk with his head until Hanna was completely upstairs: Who was this intriguing, surly, blonde-haired girl really?

* * *

"I don't think he's going to show," Alison said to Katherine in a snarky tone. They both were sitting at one of the booths in the back of the Grill, avoiding the crowds of people during the late afternoon rush.

"Patience Ali. Klaus always keeps his promises," Katherine replied with a menacing smile.

She motioned to one of the waiters, "Excuse me, another scotch please?" Katherine said, waving her glass in the air.

The waiter obliged and Katherine drank it in one greedy gulp and daintily wiped her mouth.

Suddenly, Alison felt a rush of air blow past her. Katherine looked towards her side: It was Klaus.

"Good afternoon Ladies," Klaus spoke, motioning to Katherine's empty glass, "a bit too early to be getting drunk Katherine?"

"Well, if you had been on time then I wouldn't have had to order so much and it's almost 'happy hour' anyway," Katherine sneered.

Klaus smiled politely at Alison, "Sorry, I had a prior engagement," he replied, as he scootched himself onto Ali's side of the booth, "Don't get sloppy Katherine, I need you both for our next plan."

"So what is the plan," Alison replied, as she rested her hand delicately on her chin and glared at Klaus with a semi-flirtatious glance.

Klaus smiled, "We need to find the witch to help us find the cure."

Katherine leaned forward, "Bonnie? She left town."

Klaus bent over the table, getting close to Katherine's face, "a different witch, love, one that is even more powerful than Bonnie and those pesky Bennet witches."

At this point, Alison also began to lean in, her face matching Klaus and Katherine's evil glances, "So that's why you need my help."

Klaus looked back towards Alison, proudly. His protege was becoming a fast learner. Then, he leaned backwards, smiling to himself, "We need to find Emily Fields..."

* * *

Far away from Rosewood Falls, Bonnie Bennet stood in her kitchen. Her finger hovered over her phone as she contemplated pressing Emily's number. It had been months since she had broken things off with Emily and she didn't want to cause her anymore pain. But this call was more important than matters of the heart.

Bonnie gazed at Emily's contact photo - a picture of the two of them smiling, right before they decided to go out - Bonnie pressed the number and held the phone to her ear.

Voicemail: Hi, It's Emily. I'm not here right now, um, please leave a message and I'll try to get back to you? Thanks! [beep].

Bonnie hesitated for a moment and took a breath, "Hey Em. It's... Bonnie. Please don't delete this message. I just wanted to tell you that I still miss you. I love you, Em. So much. That's why you need to help me. You and your friends are in trouble. You probably already knew that since Alison and Katherine are in Rosewood Falls right now. Protect yourself Em, because they're after you and are going to use your powers for some ultimate evil plan. I'll try to get there as soon as I can, but I trust that you'll know what to do, Em. You're more powerful than you think. I love you."

Bonnie removed the phone from her ear and pressed "END." She felt proud of herself from what she had just done. Then, she ran out of her kitchen to her room, hurriedly grabbed her suitcases and spell books and sprinted to the car. She had to get to Rosewood Falls, ASAP. She had to protect her friends, and, most importantly, she had to protect Emily.


	11. 1:8 - Trouble in Paradise

**1.8 - Trouble in Paradise**

Spencer and Jeremy had been sitting at a table having dinner at The Grill for about fifteen solid minutes now. Picking at her food, Spencer fished for a topic of conversation before she passed out from boredom. "So...classes going okay?"

Jeremy hardly heard her words, and spoke a few delayed seconds later, once he realized she was speaking to him. "What? Oh, yeah."

"That's good." She paused, desperately seeking for a way to continue. "You know, I'm always here to help if you need it!"

"No, they're good, I promise."

"Okay."

Silence.

Jeremy now felt the need to speak, they were a couple after all, shouldn't they be chatting away during meals? Maybe they had just been together for so long that this is what had become routine. "What about you?"

This time it was Spencer who spaced out on the conversation. "What? Oh, yeah, of course."

Jeremy shook his head before looking his girlfriend directly in the eye with a heavy-hearted sigh. "Spence, what happened to us?"

"I—" "I don't know, Jer. I just know I don't want this to be the end." Spencer responded earnestly.

"It's not the end, of course not, I just feel like we're changing, and maybe our relationship needs to change too."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. We need to figure out how to get that feeling back, or maybe make a new feeling our standard because I know as well as you do that this isn't working, but I want to try. I want to fight for us." There was that Hastings determination again, it never failed to let her down, especially when she needed it most.

"You know I do too Spence. After school tomorrow, let's –" But before Jeremy could come up with a plan of action, the doors to the almost empty Grill swung completely open, and Emily and Matt burst through the doorway, totally in stiches and completely besides themselves with laughter.

"Oh my god, the look on his face! Seriously, I think I almost peed a little." Emily laughed, tears brimming on the edge of her eyes.

"I honestly can't remember the last time I laughed that hard." Matt wiped his own eyes and tried to calm his laughter down to an appropriate state.

"Oh hey guys!" Emily exclaimed as she saw two of her best friends seated right at the next table.

"What's up, everyone? Out for a romantic night on the town? Matt enquired with a wink.

"You could say that." Spencer mumbled, a little peeved at the interruption. Her conversation with Jeremy was finally getting somewhere, and honestly it was one she was eager to be having.

"Of course, as usual." Emily beamed at them.

"Look at these two lovebirds. Alright, well, shift is coming up so I'm headed back. Later, guys!" And with a wave of his hand, Matt headed towards the employee section in the back.

They all chimed in with variations of "Bye Matt!" before Emily leaned against the booth next to Spencer.

"So Jer, I'm guessing you figured out your problem then?" Emily gave him an all knowing glance, referring to their earlier conversation about his relationship with Spencer, and where, or if, it was really going anywhere.

"What problem's that?" Spencer asked the two of them, clearly annoyed at being left out of the conversation.

Jeremy shook his head, not wanting to admit to details. "Oh nothing, just a little inside joke from earlier."

Emily suddenly sprung back into her previous energized state of laughter as she recounted her story to Jeremy, and subconsciously leaving the unenthused Spencer out of the joke. "Wait speaking of inside jokes, you totally should have been with me and Matt earlier, we were pranking Tyler and Matt switched out all his clothes after practice for little pink frilly clothes, and he didn't even notice until he had put the first shirt on, his face was incredible!"

Jeremy's face lit up completely at her words, and his entire attitude and body language changed. It was as if just seeing Emily's face had lit him up, and the entire world around him. She was all he was focused on, and it was as if they were the only people in the universe. "No way, seriously? I can't believe I missed this!"

"I know right? You totally should have been there, you would have loved it."

"I would have! Man, okay, next time, I am so in, this has to happen again, you can't just leave me out of these things!"

Emily grinned at him, almost losing herself for a moment in her own enthusiasm, and talking with Jeremy, something she had always absolutely loved to do. "Okay, well, I've gotta get back home to help out mom with some things around the house, so I'll catch you guys later!"

"See you later Em!" Jeremy called back to her as he watched her leave, not taking his eyes off the glowing brunette for one single second.

"Well, you've definitely got that spark in you, I guess it's just not with me anymore." Spencer raised her eyebrows at him before putting her utensils down for her meal.

"What? Spencer, that's Emily, what are you talking about?" Jeremy quickly got defensive at her words, only proving her point more.

"You like her."

"What...?"

"Admit it, you like her." Spencer demanded, her expression completely and utterly serious in that no nonsense way only Spencer could have.

"I don't like her, you're my girlfriend, remember?"

"Yeah, I do, which is why I'm confused. Actually, scratch that. Everything is much clearer now. This isn't working because you're not into me anymore, you're into her."

"Spencer, you're acting completely paranoid. I love you remember?"

Spencer's tone raised about ten levels of volume as she continued. "Oh yes, I do remember, because we've said that to each other since we were about six years old, Jeremy. But I know you better than anyone else on this planet, and that look you had with her was something you've only ever had for me before." And with that, she stood up, and stormed out of the restaurant.

Jeremy quickly threw down some change onto the table so Matt wouldn't kill them before running as fast as he could after his girlfriend. "Spencer, wait. Spencer!"

* * *

Alison knew she had arrived far too early for her scheduled meeting at The Grill, but after that run in with the ever so cute waiter the other day, she just could not get him out of her head. And, once Alison got an idea in her head, she was not one to let it go. In fact, she had a certain reputation and standard when it came to such things, and she was definitely not going to disappoint herself, most of all. She sat herself down and waited for his charming smile.

"Back again?" She turned around to see just the grin she was looking for.

"I just couldn't stay away." Alison beamed at him with her best seductive smile. "So, what's your favorite thing on this menu, Mr. Waiter? I'd love to know more about you, and let's start with this." She turned on her charm at the flip of a switch, and practically batted her perfect lashes in his direction.

And boy did he fall for the bait. She was just about the prettiest girl he had ever laid eyes on, and that magnetic attraction he felt to her the other day only grew stronger. "Well, the chicken has always been a house favorite, but if you really want my favorite meal, I'd definitely splurge for the steak. I can even get you some fries with that for free, I've got that kind of power around here." He moved closer to her with a wink and a smile that was intended to melt her heart.

She debated using her command on him to speed up this process, but suddenly, a wave of sadness washed over her. No, he was too close to her ideal of perfection, and she didn't want to ruin her simple but perfect flirtation with this innocent guy. He was so sweet, and she really, desperately wanted to get to know him. But that always meant trouble for everyone involved in her life, and for some reason she felt such a strong attraction to him, she hesitated bringing him into it. "That sounds lovely, and a yes to those fries, I love a man with power." She giggled, "I'm Alison, by the way, since it's about time I introduced myself."

"Matt Donovan." He grinned at her, matching her perfect smile. "Hey, so how would you feel about grabbing some dinner and a movie sometime? I know it's simple, but I promise I make a great movie watching companion."

"I bet you do." She laughed as she leaned on the table towards him. Dinner and a movie. Simplicity. Deep down, there was nothing more she craved than a simple date with a simply sweet guy. "You have no idea how much I'd love that." Alison grinned as she grabbed his phone to put her number in. Even if this fantasy could only last a while, she was going to breathe in every second of it.


	12. 1:9 - The Showdown

**1.9 - The Showdown**

"So do you think he'll show?" Hanna said as she grinned at Aria and looked over both of her shoulders, trying to spot Stefan in the crowded Grill.

Aria nudged Hanna, "Hanna! Will you stop looking! You're being so obvious." Aria rolled her eyes as she slumped her shoulders slightly. She couldn't believe that she had asked Stefan to hang out with her and her friends.

"Oh stop it Aria. You almost never have crushes on anyone. So this is big," Hanna smirked as she took another sip from her soda that was sitting on the table, "I've never see you look at anyone like how you looked at Stefan today at the coffee place."

Aria rolled her eyes, "Oh, speaking of crushes, here comes Damon," she replied, pointing at her brother as he walked smoothly through the crowds of people and headed straight towards Hanna.

Hanna stiffened, her hands began to clench the can of soda that she had been holding, it was the first time that she was seeing Damon since their little meeting in the shower earlier that day.

As Damon approached their table, he smirked a little bit at Hanna, "Hey sis," he said, he looked right towards Hanna and nudged himself a seat right next to her, "Hey Hanna."

Hanna pursed her lips and attempted to smile, "Hey Damon," she replied, slowly moving herself away from him.

Aria gave a puzzled look to both of them, "Wow. That's the least amount of words I've ever heard come out of each of you."

Damon smiled, "Yeah Han, what's up? I thought you would be happy to see me, you know, with clothes-"

Aria's eyes widened as she looked towards Hannah, "Um, what...?"

Hanna glared directly at Damon, kicking him forcefully underneath the table, "Nothing, Aria. You're brother's just being his normal, stupid self tonight," Hanna replied as she looked back at her friend with a nervous grin.

Aria made an "O" face with her mouth, "Okay, um... I'm gonna get something else to drink. You guys are acting weird."

Relieved to get out of that awkward situation, Aria made her way to the bar, bumping into a familiar face along the way.

"Hey Aria," Stefan said, "I was just coming to find you."

Aria looked up at his gorgeous brown eyes, "Hey! ... I'm glad you could make it!"

Stefan smiled back down at Aria, "Thanks for inviting me."

Suddenly, Aria forgot about the Damon-Hanna drama and took Stefan by the arm, "Come on, I'll introduce you to some of my friends!" Stefan followed her, putting his hand behind her back.

As Aria walked back to the table, Damon and Hanna were (thank goodness!) joined by Emily, Tyler and Matt, who were all still teasing Tyler for Matt's embarrassing prank on him.

"Hey guys!" Aria said cheerfully, "I'd like you to meet Stefan, he just moved here!"

Everyone smiled at Stefan and Aria, except Damon who's face had dropped from its previous contemptuous grin and now had changed into a stone-cold, serious expression.

Emily smiled, "Hey Stefan, I'm Emily," she pointed to Matt and Tyler, "This is Matt and this embarrassing guy with the pink tutu is Tyler."

Tyler pushed Emily, "Shut up, Em."

Stefan laughed, "Oh, tough break man."

Tyler laughed right back at Stefan, "Yeah, I normally don't look like this."

Matt smirked, "Yeah, he normally has a tiara too."

Tyler rolled his eyes and pursed his lips, "Okay, haha. Very funny. So can we just stop this now? I thought we were coming here to do shots or something."

Emily and Matt both nodded their heads and said in agreement, "I'm game."

As they left, Hanna looked towards Stefan. However, all Damon could do was glare at this tall blond guy who was standing next to his little sister.

"Stefan, why don't you sit down?" Hanna asked, as she motioned at Stefan to come sit down next to Aria.

Damon got up, "I don't think that's such a good idea."

Aria looked anxiously at her brother and whispered, "Damon, please!"

Damon looked down at her, "Aria. I thought I told you to stay away from this guy?"

Aria's eyes widened, "DAMON STOP!"

Stefan stepped in front of Damon as Aria hovered behind, "What's your problem?" he asked.

Damon stared defiantly into Stefan's eyes, "Aria, I need to talk to this guy alone. You and Hanna should leave."

Hanna stood up, attempting to get between Damon and Stefan, "Damon, you don't have to do this. Just leave him alone,"she pleaded.

Damon interrupted her, "Hanna, just please take my sister home. Good night."

Aria and Hanna looked at each other with uneasiness. They could both tell that a fight was about to ensue between Stefan and Damon.

"Han, let's just go," Aria said reluctantly. Her eyes began to glisten a bit as she was struggling to hold back tears, "Why do you always have to do this Damon?" she whispered and she looked back at Stefan, as they both exchanged apologetic glances.

Hanna went towards her friend and grabbed her shoulders in order to comfort her. She glared at Damon and bumped his shoulder as they left the Grill, "You're an idiot," she whispered.

* * *

Damon and Stefan waited until Hanna and Aria were completely out of sight. Damon grabbed Stefan by the arm and took him out through the back door and into a small alley way.

"What are you doing here?" Damon muttered, still a few inches from Stefan's face.

"I could say the same for you." Stefan replied in a cool manner.

"Listen. I don't know why you're here or why you would hit on my sister."

Stefan cut Damon off, "Just stop, Damon. Not everything has to do with you."

Damon rolled his eyes, "Then why are you here Stefan? And don't even tell me that you didn't know Aria was my sister?!," he yelled.

Stefan gave Damon a puzzled look, but then slowly began to put the pieces of Damon's mysterious presence in Rosewood Falls together, "Your sister? Oh no... Did you compel Ar-"

Without thinking Damon wound up his fist and punched Stefan in the face. His volatile temper had finally broken through and at vampire speed he grabbed Stefan, with both hands, by the shirt and pushed him up against the alley wall, "DON'T you ever talk to my sister again," he said through his gritted teeth, "I don't care if you like her - or whatever - you can stay in this town as long as I never see your face again."

With all of his strength, Stefan pushed Damon off of the wall and tackled him to the ground, "You can't tell me who I can talk to Damon, or even who I can like," Stefan replied in a forceful whisper as Damon squirmed underneath him, "and I'm not gonna let you manipulate Aria any longer. You're the one that she needs protection from," Stefan growled as he relieved Damon from his grasp.

Finally, Damon pushed himself back up. His clothes all wrinkled. Stefan's mouth bleeding slightly, "I have a life here Stefan. This is my town. Stay here all you want, but if you mess with my sister, I will destroy you and I'll tell her about Katherine," Damon said defiantly as he began to walk away from Stefan.

Stefan looked back at Damon as he wiped the corner of his bleeding mouth, "Fine." he replied, "but Aria can decide for herself whether she wants to be with me."

Damon turned around and speeded back towards Stefan. Winding his fist in the air, he gave him one last punch. Silence. Stefan hit the ground. Damon gave a satisfied smile and walked away from Stefan, once and for all.

* * *

1 am:

Walking down the streets of Rosewood Falls, Klaus smiled triumphantly to himself. He was almost close to winning over Caroline completely, Katherine and Ali were busy executing his plan and he was close to gaining the respect of -A (or the person who he was really working for behind Katherine and Ali's backs).

As Klaus watched the last of the pub crawlers stumble through the streets, he decided to sit on a nearby park bench so that he could fully contemplate the next steps to his manipulative plan.

However, as he sat down, Klaus fell into an uncomfortable silence. Hearing the faint whispering sounds of the wind blowing through his ears, Klaus could hear the patter of a man's footsteps walking behind him. Klaus wondered who would have dared to approach him with such directness. As the sound of the footsteps grew louder, Klaus prepared himself for an attack.

Suddenly, Klaus whipped his head around, baring his vampire teeth to make sure that this other person surrendered himself to him.

However, Klaus dropped his vampire face as soon as he saw this person appear from the pitch-black night, "Elijah," Klaus whispered.

Elijah walked out from the black abyss of the night, "Hello brother, we need to have a chat..."


	13. 1:10 - What Once Was Lost

**1.10 - What Once Was Lost**

By this time, Klaus and Elijah had made their way back to Klaus' current mansion of choice on the outskirts of town. It was an old inhabitance they had kept in Rosewood Falls on and off throughout the centuries, since there always seemed to be a strong mystical connection to the supernatural world in this particular area. Elijah rolled the ice around in his bourbon as he listened to the wood in the giant stone fireplace crackle next to him. He stared in all seriousness at his brother as he spoke. "Klaus, I'm worried about you."

"Brother, you worry too much. About all of us. You'd think after a thousand years I would know how to take care of myself." Klaus smirked at his brother from his armchair. He didn't like how Elijah always treated him like the baby of the family.

"One would think." Elijah raised his eyebrows in disapproval. Klaus was not like him, he was rash and let his emotions run wild with his anger. Elijah preferred calculation and planning. He knew his brother was up to something, but couldn't figure out the details. So, when he heard rumors of his appearance back in Rosewood Falls, he took advantage and paid him a visit. "I know you, Klaus. And I know you're planning something. I'm more than willing to help you, brother, as long as I know the cause and the cost. I need more information, and you're going to give it to me. What are you doing back in Rosewood Falls?"

Klaus was about to protest, but realized it might actually be advantageous to get Elijah on his side in this quest, and he realized he just might have the leverage to do so. "Katherine is here. I've been tracking her." He admitted bluntly before taking a sip of his drink to continue.

"And you want to try for your army of hybrids again, am I correct?"

"You are as usual, brother. Only this time, I've found a new, and much better way. You see, I approached Katherine when I found her here, and her little friend Alison. They're here after revenge on a person who they call "A." They're still desperate for the cure, so, I told Katherine with her participation in my plan, she gets the choice of helping me to control my army, or the cure for herself, or Alison, as she's promised her. But, in reality, Katherine is of no importance and once I get what I want, I will finally get my revenge, and keep the cure. We, can finally get out revenge on her, if you'd like to join me. Because, you see, Katherine and her poor sweet doppleganger Elena are not the most powerful dopplegangers in town. Oh no, dear brother. Vivian is in town, or should I say, her much younger, newer half, but I've devised a plan, and she will soon come too. You of all people should remember her well?"

Elijah froze at Klaus's words, almost dropping his glass. Vivian...was coming.

* * *

Stefan was headed home from Rosewood Falls High after another typical day for a not so typical student

Stefan was headed home from Rosewood Falls High after another typical day for a not so typical student. But, he only had one thought on his mind: Aria. He was spending every second at school he could possibly manage with her, there was just something so completely entrancing about this girl...and he hadn't felt this way in an incredibly long time. He yearned for more, he needed more. As he walked up the steps to his porch and swung open his door, and whooshing noise diverted his attention away from Aria to the man, or should he say vampire, suddenly standing before him. He sighed as he pushed past him into his living room and placed his bag down. "Hello again, Damon. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Oh cut the crap, Stefan." Damon spat as she followed him into the wide living area he once knew well. "You being in Rosewood Falls can't happen. I won't let it happen. And this whole obsession you have with Aria? Yeah, that's not happening either. I thought I made myself pretty clear last time we chatted."

"Damon we went over this."

"No, we didn't. Why are you here, Stefan, you're ruining this for me."

"Ruining what for you, Damon? Why are you here? After all, I should be asking you the same thing!" The two men glared intensely at one another, both unwilling to give in and go first. After a tense minute or two, Stefan sighed and decided he was going to be the bigger person in the argument, and get this over with. "Fine." He conceded with a wave of his hand as he sat down. "I've been tracking Katherine, for maybe fifty odd years or so. And she's here, Damon, she's back. I've finally got her, and I'm getting my revenge. Our revenge. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I've come this close and nothing is going to stop me."

"Katherine...is here...?" Damon's face froze in an angry shock before turning into a complete grin. "Well then far be it from me to stop you. In fact, I might even help you kill the crazy bitch." He gave Stefan an approving nod as he sat across from him, suddenly warming up to the presence of his once old best friend. "Okay, revenge I can do. I'm good at revenge. But I still stand by my position on my sister, Stefan. I don't want her involved in any of this."

Stefan nodded in approval. "Neither do I, Damon. This is between you, me, and Katherine. No one else needs to know. So now, it's your turn."

Damon sighed in turn, and couldn't help but laugh. "It's simple really, Stefan. And totally sappy, blah blah, but I wanted a life. I wandered back into town, and I saw her. Aria, my great-great-grand niece or whatever she is, she had my bloodline, and I knew what I had to do. I put myself in everyone's lives, as if I had always been there. See? Simple. I'm her brother now, I have a family, friends, an easy day to day life, and of course superhuman strength, speed, seduction and perception, so it's a win-win. It's what I've always wanted, Stefan, I'm happy. And you, or no one else, is going to ruin it for me. So yeah, I'm in, let's take down Katherine for good before she screws all this up for me again."

"But, what are you going to do when everyone starts aging, Damon, and you stay the same?" Stefan's first question popped into his head and he just blurted it out immediately. He had to admit it, he felt a pang on his heartstrings as he heard Damon's story, which he assumed was a lot more serious of a passion of Damon's than he was telling it. His best friend had found happiness, like he had always wished for, even after their falling out decades ago, and Stefan wondered if he somehow could find his own one day, once his revenge fantasy played out.

"I guess I'll just disappear for a while, let another few generations go by until they don't remember. That sort of thing." Damon explained, too depressed by the thought to give it much time.

Stefan nodded as he looked his friend in the eye. "So, you ready to get Katherine, once and for all?"

"Let's do this." Damon grinned, leaning back on the couch in satisfaction.


	14. 1:11 - Frenemies and Friend-nots

**1.11 - Frenemies and Friend-nots**

"Ugh. I don't understand what we're supposed to be doing!" Hanna groaned, "What's a mucus and why am I supposed to measure to it?"

"A meniscus, Han," Mona said, rolling her eyes, giving a little smirk at her friend's 'dumbness,' "It doesn't come out of your nose, you have to match the little curvy part with the measuring line," Mona took the test tube from Hanna and expertly poured the chemical liquid into the tube.

Hanna looked away and shrugged, "Ugh, whatever. Can we skip class early and go shopping please?" she said, holding her hands in a pleading position.

"Hanna I wish, but I have to stay after school," Mona replied, "Have to go run the prom committee before Spencer takes over," she winked.

"Fine," Hanna smirked, "I'll go by myself, but you owe me this weekend. There's a major shoe sale and I'm in desperate need of some new heels."

Mona looked over her shoulder to make sure the coast was clear for her friend to leave, "Fine go for it, I promise," Mona replied, with a small laugh.

As Hanna took off all of her 'science garb,' grabbed her purse and ran out the door, Mona went back to writing down more lab observations in her notebook. However, her face suddenly dropped from her previous smile when she saw Tyler walking in her direction.

"Need any help?" he smirked with a seedy grin. Mona couldn't stand him. She was only friends with him because they sort of ran in the same groups, but he was an absolute, what's the word? D-bag.

"Not from you, Lockwood," Mona snarked back, "I'm not in remedial science, remember?"

Tyler laughed, "So Mona, I was thinking? When are we gonna ever hook up? I know you like me," Tyler said, as he leaned his arm against her table, giving her a wink.

Mona looked down and pursed her lips, "Well, the Biebs once said, "Never Say Never," but for you I'll make an exception," she replied.

Tyler moved closer to Mona, "Come on, Mona, 'I could be your boyfriend,'" he smirked, Tyler moved his face closer to Mona's face, "I know you've liked me since freshman year," he said, as he hovered his hand close to hers.

Mona smirked and looked right at his face, "You're right," she replied, moving her face as if she was going to kiss him. Tyler leaned forward.

Suddenly, Mona moved out of her place and Tyler fell flat on the floor.

Mona cackled, "In your dreams, Lockwood," she turned around to retrieve her books off the table, "You'll have to try a little bit harder than that," Mona said, looking right at Tyler's pissed-off face.

"You'll give in eventually, Vanderwaal," Tyler grumbled, struggling to lift himself off of the ground.

Mona turned around and walked out of the door. She had so much fun toying with that boy.

* * *

"Hey Jer, what're you doing out here by yourself?" Emily said, walking up to Jeremy who sat, looking dejected, on a bench where all of the 'stoners' hung out after school.

"Hey Em," Jeremy looked up, attempting to give a half-smile, "Well, I think me and Spence are officially done," he mumbled sadly, yet also, breathing out a sigh of relief at the end of his sentence.

"Oh, Jer, I'm sorry," Emily replied. She put her hand on Jeremy's shoulder, trying to comfort him, "Isn't that what you wanted?..."

Jeremy shook his head, "I thought I did, but, it's not like I wanted to hurt Spencer. She's been my best friend for like, my whole life. I can't even imagine my life without her," he said, as he lifted his head slightly to look back at Emily.

"Do you feel like you did the right thing?" Emily said, staring back at him with a concerned expression.

"That's the thing. I kind of feel relieved, I was starting to feel suffocated in that relationship," he said, smiling a bit more.

"Well, as long as you're happy, that's the most important thing," Emily replied, smiling back at her best friend, relieved that he was starting to feel a bit better.

Jeremy sat back up, "I'm glad you're here though, Em," he said, still smiling at Emily.

"Of course, Jer," she said, "You know I'll always be your best friend, even if Spencer doesn't want to be anymore," Emily said grinning back at him.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them. All of a sudden, Jeremy reached for Emily's face and he kissed her.

Emily pulled away after a few seconds, "What're you doing?" she yelled, sitting up hurriedly.

"Em..." Jeremy stuttered, standing back up at the same speed, "I like you!"

Emily looked back at Jeremy, her brow wrinkled a bit, "I don't, I can't do this Jeremy," she replied, beginning to walk backwards.

Jeremy rushed to Emily, grabbing both of her hands, "Em, please. Can we talk at least?"

But Emily tore herself away from Jeremy's grasp, she couldn't believe what had just happened. Why would he kiss her? Emily sprinted, squinting her eyes and shaking her head in disbelief, she had to get out of that that school and tell someone about this, anyone but Spencer.


	15. 1:12 - First Date Pt1

**1.12 - First Date Pt.1**

"Woo! That's makes three games in a row! You lose!" Aria yelled as she lifted up her cue stick, sinking the last ball on the pool table and smiled braggingly at Stefan.

Stefan smiled, "Not bad." he said with an approving smirk, taking another sip from his drink.

"Should we put money on the next one?" Aria replied, walking up towards Stefan, raising her eyebrows and pursing her lips at her latest victory.

Stefan looked down at her, "I think you've had enough. See this is the point where a casino owner would usually ask someone to leave," he said, jokingly brushing Aria's arm.

"Ugh, no fun!" Aria said, pouting her lips a little, "I don't have a problem." she replied sarcastically, as she reluctantly put the cue stick away.

"Plus, I think that they may have switched bartenders, so we better sneak out before they notice us." Stefan said, laughing at Aria's cute expression. They both quickly downed the last few drops of their two drinks.

Aria wiped the last bit of her drink with the tip of her tongue, "Where do you wanna go?" she said, looking back at up at Stefan.

"I don't know," Stefan said, still gazing into Aria's eyes, inching his hand closer to hers, "It's getting late though, do you still want me to walk you back home?"

"Yeah sure," Aria said, giving Stefan a flirty smile, "I can't take all your money."

As they left the Grill and walked back to the Montgomery house, Stefan laced his fingers through Aria's, almost approaching her house, Aria looked over at Stefan, "Thanks for meeting me tonight."

Stefan looked back at Aria, "Thanks for meeting me. How did you make it past Damon?"

Aria laughed, "Damon may seem scary to most people, but I can handle him." she replied.

Finally reaching her house, Aria stopped, "Listen, I don't know what Damon told you the other day and I don't know how much more I can apologize for him. He's just gets really protective of me like a thousand more times that he should.I-," Stefan cut her off.

"Aria!" Stefan interrupted her, "It's fine."

Aria looked up worriedly at Stefan, "I just, I don't want to mess any of this up, and at the risk of our technical first date getting any cheesier, I feel like you're too important to me."

Stefan faced directly at Aria, taking both of her hands, "That won't happen." he replied.

Suddenly, Aria reached up as much as she could and kissed Stefan. She didn't quite understand it, there was just something that was pushing her to do it, it was that same magnetic, electric pull that she had felt when they were in class, in the coffee shop and at the Grill magnified and placed on a continuous loop in her mind. Stefan moved his hands out of Aria's and held her face. Aria raised her arms and placed them over Stefan's broad shoulders. Finally, the moment that Aria had been waiting for and honestly, it had exceeded her expectations. As their kiss grew even more passionately, they both slowly began to move their heads away, their eyes looking down at both of their mouths and then up so that both of their intense brown eyes were staring at each other.

"Did I tell you that I'm really glad that you moved here?" Aria whispered, grinning at Stefan.

"No, but I'm really glad that there was an empty seat behind you in class." Stefan whispered back, matching Aria's grin.

"I promise, I'll straighten things out with Damon the second I get back home." Aria shook her head in an agreeing motion, defiant in her present decision, yet with a worried expression on her face.

Stefan stared assuredly at Aria's face, resting both of his thumbs on Aria's face, Stefan pursed his lips slightly as he tried to comfort Aria, but all he could focus on were her piercing brown-hazel eyes, "Aria. Did anyone tell you, you have the most beautiful eyes?" he said - trying to pull her focus back to the end of their date.

Aria looked back up at Stefan's face. This time, he kissed her back. She then pulled away reluctantly- not wanting to take her eyes off of Stefan for one minute, "Night, Stefan," Aria whispered.

"Goodnight Aria," Stefan whispered back, also pulling her face reluctantly from his own.

* * *

"Ezra. I'm going to be honest, but this is kind of the worst thing I've ever eaten," Elena laughed, holding up some weird mashed up pasta shape with her fork.

"Hey!" Ezra replied, looking up from his plate, "It's not that bad," he laughed back at her.

"I mean, I think it's only pesto that's supposed to be green." Elena smiled, putting her fork back on the plate and placing it on the floor.

Ezra looked down at his plate, "Yeah, well, that's what you get when you've only cooked on a hot plate in your dorm room for the past four years."

Elena shook her head, "It's fine. Next time, I'll cook," she replied with a reassuring smile.

Ezra looked up eagerly, "So there's a next time?"

"Yeah, I think so," Elena replied, biting her lip nervously.

Ezra put down his plate, his tone suddenly turned serious, "Do we really think that it's a good idea?"

Elena, now slightly embarrassed, glared at the ground, "No, not really."

"Elena. I'm your teacher now," Ezra stated matter-of-factly, now getting up from sitting on the floor. He began to pace back and forth, trying to brainstorm ideas that would solve this looming issue.

"Then why did you invite me here?" Elena snapped back, slightly insulted that Ezra had already done so much and he was still unsure about their potential relationship.

Ezra started to walk back towards Elena, "Elena. It's not you -," Elena cut him off.

"It's not you it's me." Elena rolled her eyes, "Don't even try with that Ezra. We're both writers, I can spot a cheesy fake line like that any day," Elena said as she made a beeline for the door.

Ezra quickly ran, blocked her from the door and grabbed both of her hands, "No, Elena, this situation is, I think, more complicated than we think it is," he said, looking directly into Elena's eyes - pleading for her not to leave his apartment.

"I mean, yeah, but as far as the potential 'relationship' stuff goes, what do you want to do?" Elena looked up at Ezra, a bit perturbed that he was blocking her from the door.

"I obviously want to be with you," Ezra blurted, crossing his arms over his chest in a defiant gesture.

"Yeah - and I'm still the same person that I was when we met at your reading, so why can't we just do this?" Elena replied, crossing her arms, challenging Ezra to make the right choice (from her perspective).

"What're you saying, you want us to date... In secret?" Ezra said in a questioning manner.

"I mean, if that's what it'll take to be with you, then, okay," Elena said - her eyes matching Ezra's anxious expression.

Ezra scrunched up his face, "You would be okay with that?" he said looking worriedly into Elena's eyes as if searching for some sort of answer to his indecisiveness.

"Isn't that what I just said? Ezra, I'm all in," she replied exhaustingly, as her arms fell to her side.

Ezra kissed Elena. Although he understood the risks, he felt as if he had been transported back to their first meeting at that funky little coffee shop.

Pulling away, he smiled back at Elena, "I'm all in," he replied, holding her face with both of his hands.

Elena held onto both of his hands, "Good," she said, looking up at Ezra - the same guy who had moved her so much with his poetic words at that fateful reading. She kissed him one last time, grabbed her coat and bag off of the floor and exited out the door.

* * *

1:30 am:

Reflecting on her date with Stefan, Aria, dreamily, got ready to go to sleep. However, as she was settling into her bed, Aria's phone vibrated on her nightstand. Confusingly, Aria sat up. No one she knew would usually text her this late -

However, when Aria picked up her phone and read the message, her eyes widened:

 **Hey Aria: Nice choice, but not sure Damon will be so forgiving. Remember if you kiss I'll tell. Did you miss me? - A**


	16. 1:13 - First Date Pt 2

**1.13 - First Date Pt. 2**

Hanna had gotten a late start that Saturday morning after staying up way to late the previous evening while having a marathon of Netflix shows with her sister Caroline. So, it was time for coffee, or else she was pretty positive the rest of her day would be spent in bed. She ordered her usual at the local Rear Window café and grabbed a seat at a table near the window to have a little time in peace to wakeup with her caffeinated drink. She shut her eyes with a yawn, but as soon as she opened them again, she almost yelled out as her eyes set upon a figure now suddenly in front of her. "Jeez, Damon! You seriously know how to scare someone."

Damon reclined in the chair across from Hanna after appearing seemingly out of the blue. "Really? I've often been told my appearance has the opposite effect."

"Well trust me, not today." Hanna rolled her eyes at him as she relaxed again, taking a sip of her drink.

"You should stop by later, maybe help make dinner?" Damon inquired vaguely, trying to gauge her interest level before making any serious moves.

Hanna, assuming he meant with the rest of the family present, eagerly agreed. "Yeah, sure! It'll be nice to get out of the house tonight anyway."

"Great, it's a date then." Damon winked at her before he got up to leave.

"In your dreams, Damon." Hanna rolled her eyes with a laugh as she watched him go.

It was slowly becoming late afternoon as Hanna arrived the Montgomery house for dinner, or well, dinner prep. After ringing the doorbell, Damon flung it open with a grin. "You actually came." He smirked at her as he gestured her inside.

"Yeah of course, there's free food here, why wouldn't I?" Hanna joked as she made her way into the kitchen. "So, what're we making?"

"Roasted lemon chicken a la Damon, with chocolate chip cookies for dessert." Damon recited the menu for the evening as he pulled the last few ingredients out of the cabinets.

"Wow, and it actually sounds good." She teased him with a smile. "I vote cookies first so we can eat them while we work."

"I like the way you think." Damon replied with a wink as he gathered the ingredients on the counter. "Hey, can you grab the flour?" He asked, pointing to a cabinet next to her.

"Yeah sure." Hanna reached in to grab the bag, but as she swung around to give it to him, she hadn't realized it was open, and half of the contents sprayed all across Damon. Hanna gasped; he was covered head to toe in white, powdery flour. He spit some out of his mouth as they stood there in shock, before Hanna completely burst out laughing.

"Oh, I am definitely getting you back for this." He menaced playfully as she sprinted around the other side of the counter, still holding the bag of flour. But, she was no match for his speed, and with a screaming Hanna, he grabbed the bag and dumped the rest of the contents all over her.

"Oh my god!" She yelled out between laughs. "Get this off of me!"

"Well, if you say so." Damon ran towards the sink and grabbed the pull out spigot hose and pointed it directly in her direction, spraying the blonde with water. She screamed again, though her laugher was getting far more out of control. Hanna raced towards him, and grabbed the head of the pull out faucet and aimed it right at him, soaking him almost as much as he had managed to do to her. While wrestling to get the faucet back under his control, Hanna slipped in the mixture of water and flour that now coated the floors, but before she fell, she made sure to bring Damon down with her.

They lay on the floor next to one another, laughing completely uncontrollably. Suddenly, they realized the slightly uncomfortable close proximity between them. Damon determined it was time to take advantage of the situation and make a move. He leaned in towards Hanna as she lay next to him, her laughter dying away as she saw the look in his eyes. They were so close now they were just barely touching, but their breaths became deeper and more hesitant as he put his hand on her cheek. With an almost magnetic motion, his lips came crashing onto hers, pulling her close against him as they lay on the kitchen floor, ignoring the floury watery mess surrounding them. The kiss deepened and became more furious with longing as he pinned her to the ground beneath him. She tugged off his shirt as he undid her blouse, barely leaving one another's lips as they did so.

Abruptly, Hanna pulled away from him as she quickly sat up with a worried look. "Oh my god, the kitchen, and Aria's coming home, and we have nothing cooked and..."

"Hanna. Stop." Damon moved closer towards her again kissing her neck. "She's not coming home. I'll clean it up before she does. Shut up and stop worrying." He laughed as he kissed her again and again, not willing to separate himself from her skin.

"Wait...what?" Hanna pulled away again as Damon rolled his eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry, I thought we were making a family dinner?" She squinted at him in confusion.

"I never said that. I just asked you to come make dinner. You were the one who agreed."

"But I thought..." She shook her head, still not getting the situation. "Why?"

"Why?" Damon laughed as he sat up and leaned against the counters next to her. "Why do you think, Hanna?" He shook his head at her blank stare. She still didn't seem to get it. "Because, it seems that I just can't get enough of your passive aggressive remarks." He joked as he looked her in the eye.

With a laugh she leaned next to him. She hadn't ever felt this amount of attraction towards someone, it was so intense and all consuming, she was sure her breathing or heartbeat or her brain or something medical was currently delayed. "So lemme get this straight. Damon Montgomery actually likes a girl. Wow, I truly thought this day would never come." She teased, while she swayed to push her shoulder against his. "You know we can't tell Aria about this. She would totally flip out."

"Oh of course not." Damon laughed at the thought of his sister discovering him and her best friend in such a compromising position, but he was slightly worried about how she would take it. He had spent such a long time building up their relationship, he didn't want anything to wreck it. "But if she did, we might as well give her something to worry about." He whispered as he leaned over, pushing his lips against hers as she giggled, bringing her body under his again on the floor.

* * *

Matt waited at the edge of the cub in front of the movie theater, tickets in hand for the latest romantic comedy to hit the screen. His date Alison had to be one of the prettiest girls he'd ever seen, and since he met her, he just could not get her out of his mind. The perfect blonde curls, the bright blue eyes, and that smile, but he felt as though there was a much deeper, more intense side to her, though he couldn't pin point just what it was quite yet. All he knew is that he hoped he'd get the chance to figure it out. His face broke into a grin as he saw Alison walking towards him, although he could have sworn she seemed to appear there out of no where.

"Well you're looking handsome." She grinned at his wide, adorable smile. Alison knew this whole ordeal with Matt was a horrible idea, but she just couldn't help herself. She hadn't gotten used to controlling her overpowering emotions as a vampire, and right now, her emotions were all pointing directly at Matt. He was just so perfectly sweet and kind, and everything she would have ever wanted in a guy if, well, this hadn't happened to her. "You already got the tickets! Well that means I get to buy the popcorn."

"Deal." He took her hand in his, and led her into the theater.

At the touch of his hand, her smile grew almost melancholy. She hadn't come to terms with this whole undead, immortal thing quite yet, it was all so new. After she grabbed the biggest bag of popcorn they had, the two made their way into the theater and sat in the center, towards the back row. Since the movie had been out for a while, there wasn't much of an audience, to Alison's relief. "Thank you for this whole date idea, Matt. You're a really sweet guy, know that?"

"Right back at you." He squeezed her hand, just excited to be near her. "Er, well, girl, not guy... you know what I mean." He laughed awkwardly, his nerves clearly showing.

Alison seized the moment, and leaned towards him with a kiss. It was such a sweet innocent kiss, something she hadn't experienced in a long time. The movie started to play and the two of them relaxed into their seats, hands clasped as if they would never let go.

Before they knew it, the movie was over, and Matt reluctantly led Alison outside to say goodbye. "Are you sure I can't drive you home?" He asked, sweeping the hair out of her face as he gave her a goodnight hug. "It's getting really late, I don't want anything happening to you out there."

She grinned at him, warmed by his big bear hug. "Somehow I think I'll manage. It's only Rosewood Falls, after all." She laughed; he didn't realize that she'd probably be the most dangerous thing walking around that evening. "I had a really great time tonight."

"Me too, let's make this a habit." He hugged her tighter, counting down the seconds until he could see her again.

"Well, if you insist." She smiled up at him as he leaned in for a kiss goodbye. She prolonged this kiss a little more than she had the first, not wanting to leave him either, and stay in her little pretend world. But, all things have to come to an end, so they finally exchanged goodbyes. He drove off in his car as she walked away, smiling to herself. That is, until a powerful hand grabbed her and pulled her into the near by alleyway.

She felt her body being slammed up against the wall, and a hand on her throat. Of course, Katherine. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Alison?"

"Oh, relax. I'm just having a little fun." She choked out, trying to wiggle her way out of Katherine's grasp, unsuccessfully.

"You are not allowed to have fun. We're not here for fun, remember? We're here for revenge, and to get –A before anything else happens to us." With barely an effort, she threw Alison to the ground as the girl whined, still not used to her miraculous healing abilities. "Now enough with the fooling around, you're supposed to be focused. I didn't help you through all that stupid vampire training for nothing after all. Plus, you want that cure, don't you? So you can be with your precious, stupid little human Matty, right? Then do what I say and he doesn't get hurt, got it?"

With the idea of any harm coming to Matt, Alison sprang back into action, this time pinning Katherine against the further wall. "If you touch a hair on Matt's head, I'll..."

"You'll what, hun, kill me? Been there, done that." Katherine spat back.

"Fine, I'll do everything, but Matt isn't involved." She loosened her grip on Katherine's neck, marveling at her new strength and power.

"Deal, hun." Katherine winked at her in a laugh. "Now can we go get a manicure tomorrow? Because this fight just screwed up my perfect hands."

* * *

1:30 AM:

"Night Care!" Hanna called to her sister down the hall. She had told her sister she got pushed in the pool at Aria's house, because that was a whole lot of a better excuse than what had really happened, especially since she knew Caroline couldn't stand Damon for the life of her. She tucked herself in bed, replaying the evening in her mind. The kitchen floor. The shower. Finally, actually, making dinner. The couch. Then home to dream about the previous day. But, before she could make herself comfortable, she heard her phone buzz. Pulling it out, she gasped as she read herself the message, looking around her room nervously.

 **"Your best friend's brother might be sweet now, Hanna, but keep this one a secret and you'll be discovering a much scarier one. Be careful what you wish for." – A**


	17. 1:14 - The Creation of Vivian Wright

**1.14 - The Creation of Vivian Wright**

1816 - London, England:

"I never thought anyone could be so beautiful." Elijah whispered to his beloved Vivian as they danced with one another for the hundredth time at a local, society ball. The lights glistened off the crystal chandeliers, the musicians played the latest popular music, and every man and woman was dressed to the nines to impress the others, but he only had eyes for Vivian, and she for him. As the song ended, they bowed and curtseyed at one another, and he quickly joined her at her side. "Let's disappear." He whispered in her ear as he began to lead her towards the entrance of the London townhome. They ran laughing into the night, and after they were far enough away, but close enough to make it back to the party without Vivian's family worrying, Elijah took her in his arms, and kissed her. Every kiss between them was like a first kiss, passionate and full of a complete and total love neither one had ever quite experienced previously. He hardly ever wanted to take his hands, or eyes off the girl, but an idea suddenly dawned on him as the two of them stood in the abandoned city street, moonlight showering them in an eerie glow. "Marry me, Vivian." He looked her straight in the eyes.

"Elijah, you cannot be serious." She laughed as she shook her head, only in dreams could such a proposal be true. "It's not kind to tease a girl in such a way."

"Vivian, please. I'm not toying with you. Marry me. Make me the happiest man alive." Elijah was hardly even thinking rationally, his entire being was consumed with the idea of her.

Vivian stared at him in total, gleeful shock, the idea suddenly dawning on her. She burst into laughter and in total joy, she kissed him harder than she ever had before. "Yes, yes, a thousand times yes." She nodded her head as she laughed and they embraced in the night.

* * *

"Vivian, I don't know how many ways to express this, you cannot marry the man. He is a completely unsuitable match." Mr. Wright, a rather portly man who was not aging gracefully yelled to his middle daughter at the top of his lungs. Once he used this tone of voice, Vivian always knew his decision was final. "For goodness sake's Vivian, use your head. You were always the smart one, after all. You must see why this is not advantageous for you, or the family name. We have a reputation to uphold, and I will not have a daughter of mine throwing away her family name for some soldier, Elijah nobody." He spat, his angered flopping around in his armchair shifted his favorite wig just a bit off the center of his head, only adding to the ridiculous picture her father already created.

"But father, I love him." She pleaded for probably the tenth time that evening. "Please, try to understand, this is not a decision I have come to using my head, but my heart, and that is where the decisions of great love must truly reside from."

"I won't hear about this anymore, Vivian. You have greatly upset me, and I will now retire and spend the rest of my evening in peace." Mr. Wright declared haughtily as he shuffled out of his chair, and huffed his way back to his bedroom, leaving Vivian, strong as she ever was, holding back tears.

* * *

Despite the copious amounts of bourbon he was consuming, Elijah was on full guard as he heard his door creek open. He jumped up, only to see a long lost, familiar face.. "Kol, what in heavens name are you doing here."

"Why it appears as though I'm saving you, brother." Kol swaggered into the room, looking at his pathetic sight of a brother up and down.

"That is the last thing I need right now, Kol. Please, leave me alone, I'm busy." He waved his brother in the direction of the door. Elijah never had much time for his brother Kol or Klaus's silly games. They left far too many bodies in their wake with far too little humanity. Elijah liked to believe he was above such a lifestyle by this point. He had to be, for his Vivian, after all.

"So, who's the girl?" Kol nodded towards the large glass full of alcohol in his brother's hand.

"Vivian Wright. I love her, brother. But I can't have her. Our stupid curse foils my happiness yet again." He spat, leaning further back into his chair.

"Oh, come now brother, I hate seeing you this way. No woman is worth this. Let's do away with her and go have a good time."

With his words, and far too much alcohol in his system, Elijah sprang up with a bolt, pinning his brother to the opposite wall with a crack of the plaster. "Do not ever speak ill of her. She is far too perfect for her name to ever cross your lips. And if you harm a hair on her head you will have hell to pay." Elijah's eyes roared like fire at his brother; he had never looked more threatening or imposing.

"Elijah, Elijah, I was just having a joke. Please, stop this nonsense." He squeaked out beneath his brother's hand on his neck.

"This is not nonsense, Kol. This is my life, and my world. Now I want you to leave, and never come back, do you hear me? Never!" He roared, flinging the body of his brother towards the other wall, and laying a fist into him. His inebriation was getting the best of him.

"Oh Elijah, you'll come 'round." Kol spat back at his brother with a mischievous look in his eye. No one spoke to him that way without some form of revenge.

* * *

"No, no, no!" Elijah screamed at the top of his lungs, holding Vivian's lifeless body in his arms. After the torrid scene with his brother, and the effects of the alcohol had worn off the following morning, he had a horrific sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach at what his brother might do. He knew he had to see Vivian, but the sight he walked in on was only one he had in nightmares. She was lying in her bed, her neck bent out of shape, dead. He could hardly hold back tears, and could not look at her lifeless any more. He had to get out, and with that, he disappeared into the night, hell bent on revenge towards his youngest brother. He didn't stand a chance, and this time, he was going to find that white oak dagger made especially for him.

* * *

Only minutes after his disappearance, Vivian began to cough; some of the vampire blood Kol had forced her stomach before her untimely demise still in her mouth. And, with a wild eyed look of confusion, she fled into the night.

* * *

1915 - New Orleans, Louisiana:

"The spell requires the blood of a doppelganger, which will be the hardest piece in the puzzle, but I know we can accomplish the task." Klaus brushed off the difficulty from his position in an armchair by the fireplace. "Now, to determine which line of doppelgangers is closest to our current proximity. I've heard whisperings of the Petrova line somewhere in the Chicago area, the Stavropoulos line somewhere in the New York vicinity, and the Wright line in Miami, I believe."

At the mention of the name Wright, Elijah's hair stood up on the back of his neck. "What did you just say?"

"Elijah, really, pay attention please." Klaus sighed at his brother, readjusting himself in his chair. "I said that we have to determine which line –"

"No. Not that. Did you say Wright?" His eyes had an almost wild look to them, and even though 100 years had passed, he relived everyday with his ex-fiancée as if they were yesterday.

"Oh, you're curious if this has to do with Vivian, aren't you?" Klaus teased his brother. "Why, didn't you know she's a doppelganger? Oh Elijah, please tell me you realized this. Yes, I heard she's residing in Miami, I believe. It's quite a fun city, you should visit it sometime. It's quite lovely in the summer."

Elijah slammed his hands on the table in complete shock and anger at his brother. "She's...alive?!" He yelled, unable to fully process the thought. "How is that possible?!"

"Why, Kol never told you? Well you probably put that dagger in him far too quickly before he ever could." Klaus laughed, partially amused by his always perfectly composed brother's melt down. "Of course she's alive, Kol turned her, he didn't kill her. See? Nothing to worry about. What a shame you've spent all those years pining for nothing, I suppose."

* * *

1922 - Miami, Florida:

"You left me to die!" Vivian shouted in Elijah's general direction. "Or should I say, live." She mocked, trying to hold back the tear streaming down her face. How could he, after all these years, show up out of the blue, as if nothing had ever happened? No, she would not accept that. She couldn't accept his apology. She was not the same docile, innocent girl like she had been 100 years ago. This was 1922, and she was Vivien Wright the most feared vampire in Miami, though most didn't know her name, only the victims she left in her wake. "I had to fend for my self and reinvent my personality. I'm not the same girl, Elijah, we're not in love anymore." She lied to him, and to herself as the words flowed out. "I'm everything without you, because you left me for nothing."

"Vivian, had I only known I would have..." Elijah pleaded with her, trying to move closer to the girl who seemed to be on fire with hatred or love for him, it was difficult to determine which, or if there really was a difference at this point. "I would have spent eternity with you, like we always dreamed of."

"This is far from what I dreamed of, Elijah. This life I've been cursed with has been a nightmare, but at least now I'm in control. Everything between us ended the day I died, and my old self died with it. So I'm happy to introduce my new persona to you after all these years, Vivian Wright, charmed, I'm sure."


	18. 1:15 - The Original Love Triangle

**1.15 - The Original Love Triangle**

1864 - Virginia:

"You all right, Miss Katherine?" Stefan spoke in a Southern gentleman-like manner, as he approached Katherine Pierce who was dressed in a period gown and carried a parasol.

"Yes, I'm fine Mr. Salvatore," Katherine replied, smiling coyly back at Stefan. She couldn't help but smile every time that she saw Stefan - despite taking enjoyment in toying with the two boys, Damon and Stefan - Stefan had always been her favorite. Perhaps it was his sincere, pure Southern gentleman-like manner that she had preferred over Damon's love-sick attitude towards her.

"I'm glad that you've lengthened your stay with us," Stefan replied, bowing his head in acknowledgement of Katherine's presence, "My father has taken a likening to you here, so has Damon," he smiled cheekily.

"And you Mr. Salvatore?" Katherine said, looking flirtatiously up from her parasol. The hot Virginian sun reflecting off of her ivory skin, "Are you not happy, as well?"

"Of course Miss Katherine," Stefan spoke, as he tenderly grabbed her hand and kissed it, "I hope that you will accompany me to the end of the summer festivities this evening?"

"Why! I would be delighted, Mr. Salvatore," Katherine replied, her smile had become even brighter at the thought of Stefan as her escort to the Salvatore's annual Summer ball.

"I look forward to your company," Stefan said, as put his arm out for Katherine to hold and lead her through his family's garden. Katherine walked beside him, with a demure expression. She loved Stefan with all of her heart - her being. She wanted to be with him forever.

* * *

"You look absolutely beautiful this evening, Miss Katherine," Damon whispered into Katherine's ear, "Won't you do me the honor of saving me the last dance?." He touched Katherine's hand lightly, as the crowds of party guests were gossiping and dancing around them.

"Why, Mr. Montgomery, I'm not sure that is so appropriate," Katherine replied, looking up from her fan, "Your best friend is my escort after all."

Damon took Katherine by her satin glove and led her to a small, dark corner of the room. He kissed her passionately. Katherine's fan fell to the floor as she held onto to Damon's face - consumed by his kiss.

"Why, Mr. Montgomery," Katherine replied, gently pulling her face away from Damon, "What if someone should see?"

"Frankly my dear, I couldn't care less," Damon spoke back, grinning at Katherine - he had to win her from his best friend once and for all, "Why won't you come back to Atlanta with me Katherine? The Confederacy is no comfort to me at all,"

"You know I must stay here," Katherine whispered back, her tone had now become a bit more serious, "Stefan's father has taken me in. It would be incredibly rude to leave,"

Damon dropped his smile, "Stefan," he replied - letting go of Katherine's hands.

"Damon-," Katherine had broken her composure, "I can't go with you,"

Damon looked up angrily, "Then you don't love me!" he whispered back, "How could it be Stefan?"

Katherine placed her hand upon Damon's face, calmly, "I love you, Damon," she replied - in her soothing, melodic voice, "and I want us to be together forever. I'll make sure of it," she brought Damon's face closer to hers and kissed him.

Damon gave into her will. She was so compelling, so enchanting. He would do anything for her. He would do anything to be with her.

* * *

Flames engulfed the Salvatore mansion. The town elders had found out about Katherine and had formed a mob to extinguish the vampire race once and for all. Katherine, in her tattered evening gown, with soot and burns all of her face and body, ran out to her two lovers, who were lying on the ground, bleeding - unconscious. Going over to each of them, Katherine bit her arm until it bled and forced her blood into both of their mouths as both boys approached their not quite demise.

As both men looked at Katherine through their teary eyes, Katherine smiled at each of them, "Don't worry my dear boy," she said, "I'll save you," she spoke tenderly to each of them - assuring both that it was okay to face the inevitable end.

Moving them away from the flames, Katherine escaped into the night. Within minutes, Stefan and Damon both let out two giant coughs: Katherine's blood had worked. Struggling to stand up, Stefan and Damon glared at each other, with furious glances. With Katherine out of sight and their appetites craving human blood, they could not stand the sight of each other.

"Where is Katherine?" Damon yelled, running up to Stefan and pushing him to the ground, "You betrayed her!"

"I did not!" Stefan yelled back, squirming underneath Damon's firm grasp, "My father must have found out!" he pushed Damon back and straightened himself up, "I'm going to find her though. No matter how long it takes."

Damon sneered at Stefan, "Not if I find her first," he replied through gritted teeth.

* * *

1920- Atlanta:

"What are you doing?" A young woman screamed as Damon bit her neck, the blood gushing out of her body onto the midnight streets of Atlanta.

As Damon carried her body into a nearby alley way, he heard a familiar, female voice from behind. Suddenly, at vampire speed he rushed to face her - "Katherine?" he whispered, in a perplexed manner.

"Hello, Damon," Katherine sneered, "Did you miss me?"

Damon's feelings for Katherine had changed. For, he only saw her now as the manipulative bitch who had left him to die all of those centuries ago, yet, he still loved her all the same.

"What are you doing here?" Damon asked through a frightening whisper, his eyes wide and blood shot with rage after seeing his long lost love after all of these years.

"I came back for you, Damon," Katherine said, "Didn't I promise that I would?" Katherine whispered back, her eyes looked love-sick, but she could not wipe the malicious smile off of her face.

"Come back for me?" Damon yelled, "It's been a century Katherine. You left me and Stefan to protect yourself!"

Katherine tried to grab his hand, but Damon pulled away, "This was my plan all along Damon! Now we can be together!" She persisted.

"Be together? You mean: you, me and Stefan?" Damon yelled, as he smirked and turned to face Katherine, "Oh please! After a century, I've learned a few things, and I'm not going to get tricked by a manipulative bitch like you Katherine any longer. Go find some new toys to play with because I'm through," Damon said as he walked away, triumphantly.

Katherine rushed to Damon and blocked his path, "You mean you don't love me anymore?" Katherine replied, her eyes staring at Damon in teasing disbelief.

Damon looked at Katherine, he couldn't lie to himself, but he didn't want to be involved with a woman who had made his life hell and turned it into a living nightmare of ever-present death, "You turned me into a monster. I hate you and I will always hate you for as long as I am alive," Damon pushed Katherine up against the wall and threw her across the street.

He was glad to be rid of that bitch.

* * *

1980- Chicago:

"Well, hello, Katherine," Stefan murmured. After many decades, he had finally tracked down Katherine to this very city. As he stood in her enormous penthouse suite (which she had probably gained through compulsion), he was full of contempt and rage for this 'young' girl. Although at first he had wanted to apologize, on behalf of his father, for destroying his one true love's life, he now hated Katherine with every fiber of his being. After he was turned, he had remembered the countless times that she had compelled him to love her. She had destroyed his life. He was now a 'ripper' who murdered thousands of innocent people and had no self control over his senses. He wanted to destroy this vile vampires once and for all.

Katherine turned around at the sound of her name, her brown curls flopping to the side of her bare shoulder, "Well, Stefan. You finally found me," she sneered.

"Yeah, little tip. Make sure you always have your doorman under compulsion when you decide to go up to your room," Stefan replied with an insincere smile.

He sped towards her, reaching up to clench her neck. Katherine blocked his attempt and pinned him to the ground.

"Well, well, whatever did I do to have two best friends both hate me. Come now Stefan, all I ever did was love you," Katherine replied, smiling at Stefan's pain.

"You didn't love me, Katherine," Stefan said, grinding his teeth, "I never loved you. You compelled me to think that, because no one's ever loved you," he broke free from her grasp and pinned her to the ground, "You're lying and manipulative and don't deserve to live any longer. You take advantage of people, prey on their emotions and then leave them to die! I wish...I wish I had never met you!" he yelled, forcing back tears, he twisted Katherine's neck until he heard a snap, within seconds Katherine's eyes went blank.

* * *

Katherine awoke. Alone. Clutching her ring that one of the Fields witches had made her that would allow her to reawaken after death. She closed her eyes. Although she had turned her humanity off years ago, she couldn't help but regret her wrongful actions against Stefan and Damon. Through her snarky exterior, she truly loved Stefan, not Damon. She had never compelled Stefan to love her, but, to only keep her secret so that she could continue living with his family. She could deal with Damon hating her forever, but Stefan? She felt like taking an oak dagger to her heart and ending her life right there.

If only she could find someone to love... and that would love her back.

* * *

Present Day- Rosewood Falls:

"Don't worry, dear," Katherine whispered in a soothing tone, "You'll be safe here."

Alison slowly opened her eyes. She couldn't remember how she got here. Who was this woman hovering over her? The last thing she remembered was confronting -A, then she felt a blow to her head, her lungs filling up with dirt. Where was she? Was she dead?

Gasping for air, Alison whispered to this brunette stranger, "Am I dead?"

Katherine smirked, "In a sense. I saved you, Alison."

"What?" Alison replied, "How do you know my name?"

Katherine looked down lovingly at Alison, "That's not important now. The important thing is that I saved you Alison, and you're going to help me, help me destroy Rosewood Falls for good," she whispered back through a menacing tone.

Alison, too weak to fully comprehend what was happening, could only thank this beautiful stranger who was now cradling her in her arms. Later, she would learn more about her vampire transition. Thus, within a year, Katherine and Alison would enact a plan that would destroy -A and this town- where both of Katherine's ex-lovers now resided - Stefan and Damon would be erased permanently from Katherine's heart _forever_.


	19. 1:16 - The Truth Comes Out

**1.16 - The Truth Comes Out**

Elijah knew his brother was up to something far larger and more important than he was letting on, so it was time to confront his co-conspirators. Sure, he knew Klaus was just using them as pawns in whatever twisted game he had concocted this time, but Katherine and her little sidekick Alison might just prove to have some useful information if he could extract it from them. The last bell was ringing at Rosewood Falls High as he strode towards the inner courtyard. He would wait for them here before making his move, since he had discovered Katherine met Alison here daily after class. He was about to sit down at a bench, when sitting on another one right across from him was a face he would never forget for the rest of his immortal life. Vivian. Or...was it Vivian? Could this possibly be the girl doppelganger Klaus had spoken of previously? They had hardly touched the subject after their conversation, since Klaus knew when not to push his brother. He closed his eyes momentarily and listened for the heartbeat, or lack there of, that would give her away. Instead, he heard a steady, comforting thump. It was the girl instead. Suddenly beside himself, he felt an instant need to be near her. He wanted to hear her voice again after all this time, even if it wasn't her.

Elijah sat himself down on the bench next to the girl he just couldn't take his eyes off of. "Persuasion? That's always been a favorite of mine. There's just something completely bewitching about Anne Elliot, don't you think?" He inquired, pointing towards the book she was reading.

"Yes, actually. I've always found her to be the most sophisticated of Austen's heroines." Spencer Hastings narrowed her eyes at the stranger who unsuspectingly burst her little bubble of contemplation and complete immersion in her book. Now that her life long boyfriend was suddenly an ex, she was having a hard time wrapping her head around the thought, so she needed constant distraction, and what better than Jane Austen? At least all her heroines had epic love stories; she could live vicariously through them instead of dealing with the breakup. "Spencer Hastings," she cautiously introduced herself to the man sitting next to her, very unsure of the handsome stranger. And boy was he handsome, she couldn't think of the last time she had quite such an attraction to someone in her life. The flowing brown hair, the mysterious deep brown eyes...was she staring? Spencer tried to catch herself, clearing her throat as she did so. "So, do you just float around giving free book reviews to girls or is this more of an exception?"

"Oh, an exception to the rule most certainly." Elijah smiled at the girl. Or Spencer as she said. Spencer. He liked the name, it seemed fitting, he liked her wit already. He swore his eyes must be sparkling with excitement at the sight of her. "Well it's a pleasure to have met you Spencer."

"Likewise." She grinned at him as she spoke, not minding the interruption at the least anymore.

"Well, I'll let you get back to Anne and Wentworth then, I just hoped to introduce myself. I am sure I will see you around Rosewood Falls." Elijah moved slightly awkwardly to go, suddenly feeling nervous and silly about approaching the girl in the first place.

"Oh, are you new to Rosewood?" Spencer asked as she saw him getting prepared to leave, but not wanting the conversation with the dashing stranger to end quite yet.

"You could say that."

"Well, I've been a junior member of the Rosewood Falls Historical League for the past seven years and counting so, if you'd like to know where the supposed witches used to hang out or where the best town dance hall was located, let me know and I'd be more than happy to show you around."

"I'd love that." Elijah got up quickly to go, as he was sure he spotted Alison making her way out of a classroom. He took one last glance at Spencer before leaving her with a smile.

"But wait, I didn't get your – " Spencer called out after the stranger, but it was too late, he had disappeared into the crowd of students flooding out of their classrooms.

* * *

This time it was Spencer's turn to host the four girls, since they had sort of been going on a constant rotation between houses for the meetings, in hopes to throw A off in any ways possible. They had put their backpacks by the door, and gathered around the cozy, lit fireplace to have a chat and discuss the newest plan.

"Okay, well that failed miserably." Spencer started off, referring to their previous scheme.

"Yeah no duh, it's hard to squeeze secrets out of Ali when her scary protector Katherine is hanging out two inches away." Hanna grumbled as she crossed her arms and fell further back into the couch.

"Well if we can't get to Ali, then I say we make her come to us." Emily explained, clearly an idea forming.

Aria shook her head, frustrated at the thought. "And how are we supposed to do that? Offer to take her shopping?"

"No, what if we send her an A text? We get her to meet us somewhere alone?" Emily suggested, running out of ideas at this point.

"You know, that's actually not a bad idea." Spencer thought out loud, tapping her finger to her chin. "That might just work."

"Well honestly, I vote we try anything at this point, because I feel like something weird is going on guys, and I have a bad feeling about it." Aria looked around the room at her friends, all with the same worried expression on their faces.

Then, a ringing noise broke the silence. It was coming from everyone's phone simultaneously, and the girls immediately knew what that meant: -A.

 **"Hello ladies, it's me again. Want to keep your precious secrets safe? Well then, just do what I say and all will be fine, got it? - A"**

The girls looked over at one another, terrified at what might come next, and what form that it might be in. Their phones rang with a second text, but this time, the messages were personal.

 **"Hanna, it's time to end this fling with Damon before someone gets hurt, let's just hope it's not him, shall we?" - A**

 **"Emily, don't you think your best friend should know about Jeremy's real intentions? Otherwise Jeremy might be in deeper trouble." - A**

 **"Aria, you might want to find out just what else Stefan is hiding, or else everyone will find out you're hiding him." - A**

 **"Spencer, your suspicions about Jeremy might just be correct, but if you want to keep him safe, dig a little deeper, and ask Emily for advice." - A**

The girls suddenly all made excuses to head out the door, each more unwilling than the next to share what messages had just come through. There was an almost mutual understanding of fright that kept them from spilling their secrets right then and there. Which one could be worse?


	20. 1:17 - The Confrontation

**1.17 - The Confrontation**

Aria rushed quickly out of Spencer's house. This was the second text that she had gotten from -A about Stefan and she was already freaking out, "Why does everything in her life never work out the way it's supposed to?" she thought as she approached the Rear Window where she promised to meet Stefan later.

Suddenly, she heard familiar voices yelling coming from behind the cafe. Aria looked over with a puzzled look on her face. Her eyes widened - it was Stefan and Damon.

"I'm not going to lie to Aria for you anymore, Damon!" Stefan yelled, fanning his arms in the air, "I can't do it! You have to tell her because she's too important to me!"

Damon stared with a fierce glare, "I asked you to do one thing for me, Stefan," Damon whispered forcefully "and she's my sister. She means more to me than you'll ever know," Damon's eyes began to change color, his skin crinkled - he was about to destroy Stefan as he previously sworn that he would do. Stefan returned the same fierce, vampire glance.

Aria ran out and put her arms out in the middle of them, "What are you guys doing?" she looked at both Stefan and Damon in an angry, worried tone. She stared at Damon, "What's wrong with your face?!"

Damon's face returned quickly to normal, "Aria! What are you doing here?" Damon glared at his sister - pleading her to go home.

"What am I doing?" she yelled back at her brother - turning to Stefan, "Stefan! What's going on!?"

Stefan attempted to put his arm on Aria's shoulder but she moved away from his hand, "Damon, just tell her," Stefan replied in a serious manner.

"Tell me what? What?" Aria's eyes had begun to tear up. After getting that text from -A and hearing her brother and boyfriend argue, she could barely keep herself together, "Just tell me, Damon, please please!" Aria whimpered.

Damon looked at Aria, his angry look had softened at the sight of his hurt sister - he hated seeing her like this, "Aria. You have to promise not to tell anyone," he whispered back to her - putting his hands on Aria's shoulders, trying to comfort his little sister.

Aria looked at Damon, "Why did your face look like that, Damon? Just tell me the truth, I'm tired of you treating me like a child," she replied with an intense whisper.

Damon closed his eyes and looked at his sister with the same vampire face that she had seen a few minutes ago, "Aria. I'm a... vampire."

Aria quickly stood back, "What? What are you talking about?" she shouted at Damon in disbelief, "I knew all that drinking would go to your brain eventually," she turned around and shook her head, "We need to take you to a hospital because you're not making any sense!"

Stefan looked back towards Aria, "Aria, it's true," he replied.

Aria turned back around, "Oh! What? Because you're a vampire too?" she said sarcastically. However, once she saw both Stefan and Damon look at each other with confessional glances, she knew she already had her answer, "I can't bel-"

Stefan and Damon rushed towards her at vampire speed, "Aria. I'm not really your brother," Damon replied, "Well, long story. I sort of am. We're more like distant cousins really," Damon chuckled nervously.

Aria glared at him, "This is not funny Damon. If this is a joke, I swear," she began to back away slowly from Damon and Stefan.

"Aria, do you remember that day when Spencer took us on a tour of the Rosewood Falls Historical Society, and I got all nervous after people were looking at some old photographs and you said 'Hey Damon! That guy looks sort of like you,' Well...that was me. So no, what I'm telling you is not a joke. I'm 152 years old, and I am descended from one of the distant Montgomery family lines, and Stefan and I, well, we used to be friends until we got turned -,"

Stefan nodded his head and looked downwards, ashamedly, "It's true, Aria," he looked back up, worriedly, "Aria - I wanted to tell you,"

Aria glared at Stefan and Damon. -A was right. She didn't even know who these two people who were standing in front of her were anymore - "So this isn't a joke?" her eyes were full-on welling up and she knelt to the ground - crumbling under pressure, "I just- I can't. You've been lying to me my whole life..." - Aria couldn't even finish her sentence.

Damon and Stefan rushed towards her but Aria stood up quickly as soon as she saw them coming, "No! Stay away from me! So what have you been doing? Did you just see me one day and decided, yeah! I wanna be her brother, you sick-"

Damon looked at Aria, "No, I just wanted a family! I've been running for centuries and centuries and I just didn't want to do it anymore. I didn't lie to you about that Aria, we are a family,"

"No. Were not, Damon," she glared at him - then turned to Stefan, "and you- You told me that you never would lie to me, and I thought you could never hurt me, so I really don't understand -," her words began to bubble over each other.

Stefan rushed to Aria and held her hand, "Aria, Damon told me to keep his secret. I may have lied to you, but I never lied about my feelings for you. I came to Rosewood Falls to confront Damon- I never thought that I would meet you or that I would end up falling for you,"

Aria looked at Stefan with a scared looked on her face. She looked back at Damon, "Well, you both can forget that you've ever met me," she replied defiantly, "From this point on, we've never met. You both have never existed and I never want to see you both again!" She exchanged glances with Stefan and touched his face. She couldn't bear to leave him especially but she knew that it was the right thing to do.

"I'm going to stay with Hanna," Aria said to Damon, "You can get your stuff and leave."

Damon looked back at Aria with a hurtful glance. Her words hurt him more than any kind of break up he had ever experienced. He had lost his family. Now, he was alone. Completely alone.

Aria ran away in tears. She felt as if her heart had physically broken into two pieces. She had lost so much in one day. She began to run through all of her memories that involved both Stefan and Damon: "How could she have been so stupid," she thought. She squinted her eyes in disbelief. She couldn't bear to lose anything more in her life.

* * *

Spencer sat in The Grill. Her eyes staring blankly at the unfinished cup of coffee in front of her as she tried to contemplate the text that she had just received from -A. Suddenly, she saw Emily walking past her, holding bags of take-out in her arms.

"Hey, Em," Spencer called back to her, "Can we talk for a sec?"

Emily approached Spencer hesitantly, "You okay, Spence?" she replied.

Spencer smiled to herself, "We need to talk about Jeremy," she said. Spencer was never afraid of confrontation. She always had to know the truth about everything. No matter how much it might hurt her.

Emily's eyes widened, "What about him?" she said anxiously.

"Em. I have an almost genius level IQ, I know that Jeremy likes you, and I'm pretty sure, deep down you like him back," Spencer replied as she looked at Emily with pleading eyes.

Emily looked down, "Spence, I didn't know he liked me, I wanted to tell you right away when he kissed me, but-,"

Spencer stood up, "Wait! You guys kissed?" she yelled, as she began to collect her backpack and books off of the table, "I just thought you guys like each other, I didn't think you would stab me in the back, Em! You couldn't even tell me to my face!" Spencer stormed out of the Grill.

Emily ran after her, "Spencer wait, please!"

Spencer whipped her head back around, "No! I've always told you the truth Emily! Even if I thought that we wouldn't speak for a couple of days, I always depended on you! The fact that you would hide something like this and not even have the decency to tell me is just utter crap," Spencer yelled, shaking her head - she couldn't even think of an eloquent comeback she was so upset. She now had lost not one, but two best friends.

"Spencer! I didn't ask him to kiss me! He just did! As soon as it happened I just ran away, I didn't even know how to deal with it!" Emily yelled back as she crossed her arms in a matter-of-fact way.

"Well, you should've ran to me and told me, 'Hey Spence, Jeremy kissed me, I think I may like him back. Is it okay... blah blah blah?" Spencer replied as she mimicked Emily's voice, "As my best friend you should have told me! You get it? You should have told me Emily!"

Spencer turned and ran away from Emily. Emily tried to follow her but ultimately gave up. There was no way of reasoning with Spencer at that moment. She hadn't even spoken to Jeremy after that kiss. She had to rush to Jeremy's house. She couldn't bear to lose anymore of her friends.

* * *

Both in their respective bedrooms, Aria quickly packed up her stuff in boxes. Spencer sat on her bed - crying in disbelief over Jeremy and Emily's indiscretions. Suddenly, both of their phones went off. Great. Just what they needed another text from -A:

 **"Secrets, secrets are no fun. Don't say I didn't warn you. You can't trust anyone. Maybe next time you see them, you could deliver them a message for me. Kisses, -A"**


	21. 1:18 – Undone

**1.18 – Undone**

A chair hit the wall of his bedroom with a loud, satisfactory crashing sound as Damon panted, hardly noticing the destruction of his bedroom he had made with his complete and utter frustration at the shambles everything had quickly become. If Stefan had never come to town this never would have happened. Scratch that. If Katherine had never come, this wouldn't have happened. This was all her fault. It was always her fault. The fact that he never had a true family, that he had to make up this fake, ridiculous scenario to enjoy a semi-normal life. But, it had been nice, and he had the perfect little sister, who now would probably never speak to him again now that she knew his secret. Katherine was the one to blame, and she had to pay. Once and for all, she was finished. She was through. No more waiting around for sensitive Stefan to take his godforsaken time, today was her last day on earth, and he was going to be the one to drive a dagger through her heart, all with a smile on his face. Seconds later, he heard his phone buzz with a text message.

 **"You want to find Katherine? Then come and get her." –A**

The text was accompanied of a picture of the back of Katherine's head, rushing though the nearby woods. So she was here after all. Damon wasn't exactly sure who this –A person was who had sent him the text, but at this point, it didn't matter. The fire in his eyes only grew stronger as he broke off a chair leg to use as a stake and strode confidently in an almost mad way towards the specific area of the woods.

Hanna was officially exhausted. She had been up the entire night previously comforting Aria after some blow up with Damon and Stefan, over what she wasn't exactly sure, Aria just wouldn't go into details. Plus, there was the fact that she was starting to feel extremely guilty for keeping her quasi-relationship with Damon a secret. Sure, it had started off with the two of them hooking up, again, and again, and again, in fact they could hardly keep their hands off of one another. But, now... she could just tell it was turning into something more. They had known one another for such a long time, and she really cared about him. Like, a lot, and she was sure he was starting to feel the same way. It was strange, he was the last person on earth she could picture herself with, and yet... now that she was faced with the prospect of having to end things, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Maybe A would just punish her instead, and that was something she could handle, right? Just as those thoughts were floating around in her head, she head the ominous buzz of her phone.

 **"Oh Hanna, now's your last chance, or you might be saying a more permanent goodbye to Damon, catch my drift? – A"**

Hanna's heart raced as she read the message. Attached was a photo of Damon in the nearby woods, and she knew exactly where to find him, and what she had to do. She officially wasn't willing to gamble his safety, and did not want to even fathom what A had in store for him if she refused. She scrambled around her room, frantically searching for her things, and bolted out the door. Mentally preparing for her goodbye, she was surprised to find tears welling up as she walked briskly towards her destination.

Damon spotted her. Katherine, she was here. Thank goodness for that phantom texter, otherwise he would have missed his chance. Without a single hesitation, his face transformed into its ghoulish vampire state, and he bared his fangs at her. Taking the element of surprise to his advantage, he grabbed Katherine, pushed her against the nearest tree, and drove the stake straight through her heart. But, to his horror, before he could stop himself, the girl wasn't Katherine at all. It was just some girl, who happened to have some similar features. And, she was completely, and utterly, dead.

At that very second, he heard a loud gasp come from his left. Spinning around, his heart sank at the person staring right at him: Hanna. And, judging by the horrified expression on her face, she had seen everything. This was just not Damon's week. And then, she began to run.

Hanna wanted to run as far away from the sight she had just seen as physically possible. Her tears began to fall now, but mixed with a distinct fear instead. Suddenly, Damon appeared in front of her with a whoosh of air, as if he had come out of no where, blocking her path. "What is going on! Damon, what the hell just happened? What...what are you?" She searched his face frantically for answers, trying to hold back the tears streaming down her face.

"Hanna, calm down, everything is going to be fine." Damon took her hands, trying to soothe her with his voice. He had to fix this, he couldn't lose her too.

Hanna's voice seemed to only climb in frantic tones as he spoke. "Fine?! Fine? You just killed someone, Damon. They're dead. And what happened to your face, and how did you get here so fast... what is going on?!" She was completely flipping out, and understandably so, she had just gone through a great shock. It's not everyday she saw her quasi-boyfriend kill someone.

"This is seriously not my week." Damon muttered with a shake of his head. "Hanna, look at me, everything is going to be okay." He whispered to her as he brought her closer into a hug.

"Damon! How can you say that!" Hanna pushed back at him aggressively, still unable to process what had just occurred. "I need to get out of here." She shook her head as she continued to stumble back towards town.

"I'm a vampire, Hanna." He called after her, simply. Damon had given up fighting and postponing the truth. "Fangs, blood, the whole bit." He shook his head again, throwing his arms out with a shrug of his shoulders. But, his casual words didn't quite have the calming effect he was looking for. Her eyes grew even wider with horror as she stared at him for a minute, and then began to pick up her pace until it grew into a tearful run towards home. "Hanna, wait...!" He called, a frantic desperation in his voice as he sped up to her again.

"I need to get out of here." Hanna muttered to herself as she shook her head at him, unable to process all these emotions. If she hadn't just seen what she had, she would have thought he was crazy, and joking around, but she was positive he was actually telling the truth. He was a vampire. "Stop it, Damon! I can't do this right now. I just, I can't do this." She yelled back at him as she tried to walk away from him again, but this time, he let her go. She ran towards her house, unable to look back at the man standing completely broken at the edge of the woods behind her.

* * *

"You went too far..." Alison growled slowly at Katherine with a mix of pain and complete fury in her voice.

"Really? See, I was just starting to have a little fun. We could have had a really great night Alison." Katherine stood in the alleyway behind Mystic Grill with Matt's unconscious body held up by just the back of his shirt in her hand. He was bloodied and beaten, practically at death's door. Katherine sighed, and threw the boy at Alison's feet. "You were getting too attached to him, Alison. We can't have that. See what happens when you don't listen to me?"

"You did this as a lesson?" Alison spat back in horror, grabbing Matt and cradling him in her arms. Yes, she had been spending a lot of time with him, and maybe she was developing feelings for the human boy, but was that really that bad?

"You can't fall in love with a human, Alison." Katherine lectured, rolling her eyes, speaking from a wide depth of knowledge on the topic. "If you do, they'll eventually die, and then you'll want to die too, which is melodramatic and pointless. Or, alternatively, if you turn them to be with you forever, they resent you for eternity. Trust me, it's not worth it." She sighed, looking at her nails as she leaned against the alley wall. "So, either heal him or kill him, but let's get out of here, we've got a lot of work to do."

Alison looked at Katherine with a pure distain that was only growing stronger by the second. Matt was clearly struggling for breath in her arms, and the sight made her want to weep. "No." She declared defiantly. "You're willing to hurt me to get what you want? I'm out, Katherine. I'm done."

"You're done?" Katherine laughed at the girl. "Oh, come on Alison, heal the damn boy and let's go."

In rapid speed, Alison leapt up towards Katherine, and captured her neck in a hold, pinning her to the wall. Her anger seeped out of every pore in her body. "You went too far Katherine. I'm done." She pushed the woman against the wall again in a threatening manner before turning her back on her, picking up Matt, and walking away.

"What, you're just leaving? Yeah, okay. I'll be back, Alison, don't you forget it. I always get my way." Katherine yelled after her before speeding off into the dark.


	22. 1:19 - It's a Date

**1.19 - It's a Date**

"Hi, Mrs. Fields. Is Emily home?" Jeremy said. Emily's eyes widened from all the way upstair in her room at the sound of her name.

"Yes, Jeremy," Emily's mom said, smiling politely at Jeremy, "She's up in her room. We haven't seen you around for the past couple of days."

Jeremy looked down nervously and smiled up at Emily's mom, "Yeah, I've been sort of busy. You know, school stuff."

Jeremy rushed upstairs. Emily quickly jumped off of her bed and sat at her desk - pretending to do some of her homework. She buried her head inside one of her textbooks, trying to act completely nonchalant about the whole 'best friend crush' thing.

"Hey Em," Jeremy spoke up nervously, "So, how've you been?"

There was a moment of silence. Jeremy began to walk towards Emily - attempting to make some kind of contact as they hadn't spoken to each other since Emily rushed to his house to tell him about Spencer, "I'm sorry Spencer had to find out this way-"

Emily cut him off, "Yeah. Me too," she put the book down on the table, "Now she hates me Jer. Are you happy?"

Jeremy rushed to Emily and sat himself down on one of the empty chairs by her desk, "No. Em. Of course not."

"Well thanks to you, we're not even speaking," Emily snapped as she quickly got up from her chair, "I don't even know why you bothered to come over. I have to go to practice in a few minutes," she said, quickly walking to her closet to go change and find her swimming/sports gear. She yelled from behind her closet door, "With Bonnie leaving, Spencer mad at me, I can't lose anymore best friends. Let alone even think about having a relationship."

Jeremy looked down at his shoes ashamedly, "Em. Nothing has to change. I'm still your best friend even if you don't want to ever speak or even see me anymore. Trust me, I didn't, well this sounds cheesy, but I didn't ask for this happen. Wouldn't you rather I'd have told you and had been happy than stayed with Spencer and in a miserable relationship?," Jeremy replied - he slowly got up and waited for Emily to finish getting ready.

Emily slowly opened up the door, "You know I want you to be happy," she mumbled, staring directly into Jeremy's eyes, "But you don't get how confusing this is for me, I mean, yeah, I do like you, Jer,"

"You like me?," Jeremy responded, his eyes lit up slightly at the sound of those five magic words. He slowly began to reach for Emily's hand.

"Yeah, at the risk of sounding like we're back in middle school, yes," Emily said, smiling slightly to break the awkward tension between them.

Jeremy kept smiling at Emily, "So I was right."

Emily punched Jeremy's arm, "Oh shut up," she giggled - however, her face turned serious once again at the thought of Bonnie - "I just can't rush into anything right now Jeremy. Bonnie only left a few months ago, and I can't-"

Jeremy nodded his head in acknowledgement, "Em, I know," he smiled back at her, "Hey, can you skip practice? We have some serious catching up to do,"

Emily looked down at her sports duffle and threw it on the bed. She looked over at Jeremy and smiled, "Yeah, let's go."

* * *

Rosewood Falls: Evening

 _Doorbell Ring_

Getting up from her desk, Spencer ran to the door at the sound of the door bell. With the whole Jeremy and Emily situation, mixed with the trying to solve who -A is situation, Spencer hadn't left her house in a few days. She was too busy trying to track down information on Alison, and avoiding running into her ex boyfriend and ex best friend.

As she opened the door, she stood in astonishment at the person standing before her: it was the handsome, mysterious stranger from a few days before.

"Um hi." Spencer spoke, her mouth dropped slightly. She didn't think that she would ever see Elijah again since their first meeting, "How did you find me? I never got your name."

Elijah gazed at Spencer's intense brown eyes, "Well you said that you were a junior member of the Rosewood Historical society, so I asked around for you," he replied with a coy smile.

Unafraid of this stranger, Spencer matched his sly smile. She couldn't describe her feelings towards him, it was as if she couldn't resist his charming persona, "So, what is your name, mysterious stranger?" she said, crossing her arms and taking a step from her door.

"Elijah," he spoke, maintaining his respective position and distance from Spencer.

Spencer smiled flirtatiously, "Well, It's nice to formally meet you," she said as she put her hand out to shake Elijah's hand.

Elijah took her hand and bowed his head, "And you, Spencer."

Spencer smiled nervously at Elijah's polite mannerisms, spying an ornately decorated package underneath Elijah's arms, "What's that?" she asked in a curiously, cheeky manner.

Elijah took the package from underneath his arms, "This is for you," he said as he handed the package to Spencer.

Spencer looked at him with a puzzled expression, "For me? You got me a gift? Why?"

Elijah smiled earnestly at Spencer, "I thought you could add this to your collection." He replied, "Also, I was always taught to never go to a person's house without a gift."

Spencer slowly unwrapped the gift in front of Elijah. As she removed the packaging, her eyes widened at the dusty, yet beautiful book cover of Persuasion. Opening up the book, her mouth literally fell open at the book's publication date, "Elijah, how?-" she couldn't even form a complete sentence.

"My family's been collecting rare books for years." he smiled, finishing Spencer's sentence.

"Elijah. This is too much, I barely know you."

"Well, how about we get to know each other sometime soon then?" he responded.

Spencer looked up from this book at Elijah, "Are you free tomorrow night then?" she said, smiling mischievously. She couldn't believe that she was asking out a complete stranger.

"It's a date," Elijah replied, matching Spencer's grin.

Elijah turned around and left. Closing the door, Spencer ran up to her room and plopped down on her bed. As she opened the attached letter, her smile grew even bigger as she read its contents:

 _"To Spencer: From one gifted woman to another._

 _Although, your wit and beauty supersedes any of Ms Austen's heroines._

 _Sincerely, Elijah Mikaelson"_

* * *

"I'm glad we fixed this," Jeremy said, smiling at Emily as they walked back towards her house.

"Yeah. Me too," Emily replied, smiling politely back at Jeremy. She was glad that things were not awkward between them anymore, but she couldn't help but miss Bonnie.

"But Jer," Emily spoke. She stopped walking and looked at Jeremy worriedly, "You know I still care about Bonnie, right?"

Jeremy looked at Emily and put his arm around her, "I know, and I'm okay with that," he replied with a comforting smile. They started walking again.

Suddenly, Emily felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Her eyes widened. She sneakily took out her phone and then quickly shoved it back after reading the message.

" **Hey Em! No one likes a two-timer. Be careful! If you kiss, I'll tell Bonnie. So do what I say or else! Kisses –A"**


	23. 1:20 – Scheming

**1.20 – Scheming**

"So, what, there have always been vampires in Rosewood Falls?" Hanna asked Aria, slightly puzzled as she stared at the computer screen in front of her. The two had spent their Saturday researching vampires ever since Aria had left home. Mrs. Marin hadn't questioned it much, she just knew Aria needed a place to stay because things weren't going well at home, and any friend of Hanna's was welcome under their roof, as far as she was concerned. Hanna, however, decided to keep the events of the murder she saw Damon commit a secret from Aria, since she knew it would be far too much for her friend to bear. Aria had confided in her about Damon and Stefan, however, and Hanna went along with it, pretending to just vehemently agree, instead of disclosing she had witnessed it first hand.

"It looks like it. Or at least as far as the founding families are concerned." Aria nodded, pointing to a passage in the text they were reading on screen. The founding families had always been known around town as the original founders of Rosewood Falls. The Montgomery's were a family, along with the Hastings and the Salvatore's.

"You know, I used to never believe all this internet crap, but this has me wondering about mermaids and area fifty-one." Hanna sighed as she kept scrolling through website after website concerning local folklore. "Ew, so they really do drink blood? Ugh, gross."

"I can't believe A knew about this the whole time, and we had zero idea."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure that was the point. It's not like they tell us much of their plan, anyway. They just blackmail us with it."

"Yeah, well not for much longer. We have to tell Spencer and Emily. It's time to figure out how we're going to take A down with this."

Almost instantaneously, their phones buzzed a familiar ring. The two girls looked at one another hesitantly before checking their messages.

 **"That's right ladies, better keep me a secret from Damon and Stefan, we wouldn't want even more secrets getting out now would we? – A"**

* * *

Stefan barely raised his eyebrow as he heard the front door slam open, Damon storming inside after it

Stefan barely raised his eyebrow as he heard the front door slam open, Damon storming inside after it. Damon stopped directing in front of his friend, barely able to control his heaving breaths of anger.

"I almost had her, Stefan. After all these years, I almost had her." Damon panted out, unable to contain his frustration. In the habit of his destruction from earlier, he picked up a wooden chair, and smashed it against the wall, satisfied at the crunching sound it made when it fell to pieces. "She's not getting away with this." He yelled, even more annoyed with Stefan's overwhelming calmness.

"You almost had Katherine? Damon, how is that possible?" Stefan questioned his friend, confusion and partial amusement crossing his face.

"Well, I thought I did. I killed some meaningless girl instead, and Hanna..." The pain and horror in her face was still plastered in his mind, running on repeat. He could not believe he had hurt her, and might have lost her too...

"So you killed some girl who looked like Katherine, and she probably set you up for it." Stefan rolled his eyes.

"I don't think it was Katherine that set me up. Maybe it was. The text tipping me off was from someone who signed it -A?"

Stefan's eyes narrowed, trying to wrack his brains for an A. "A? Never heard of them."

"We've got to get her, Stefan. Get up off your lazy ass and let's do something about this for crying out loud!"

"I'm not lazy, Damon, I'm patient. We need to wait for the opportune moment."

"Now! Now is the opportune moment!" Damon mocked him in frustration.

"No, it's clearly not!" It was Stefan's turn to raise his voice now as he stood up to face his friend. "What you did only proves my point more, Damon. She's eluded me for over a hundred years now, you think one day is time to catch up to Katherine? We're going to need a plan, and we've got to take the time to calculate this out before we strike. But, at least I agree with you on one thing, it has to be soon."

* * *

Alison wiped the tears off her face as she watched Matt's body slowly but surely heal itself with her blood. After Katherine had left, she had spent far too much time debating whether or not to give it to him. If he died and he had it in his system, well then, he was doomed to the life she now possessed. But, if not, then it would really just heal him and he'd be okay. She realized she'd hate herself forever if she didn't at least try and help him, so she made the choice. Thankfully, it was the right one.

"Alison?" Matt's eyes fluttered open to see the beautiful blonde hovering over him, her hair perfectly framing her angelic face. "Alison, what happened? Why am I -" Matt looked down at his own body in fear as he saw deep wounds healing themselves in seconds.

"Shh." She comforted him as he lay in her arms, "It'll all be okay. Just look at me, Matt."

He tilted his eyes to look directly into hers, and suddenly, he was in a trance.

"You were working late, and you were sleep deprived, so you fainted. I came to say hello, and found you back here." Her eyes grew large and hypnotic as she spoke, compelling him to forget the night's events. She knew she couldn't risk his life again, and if it came down to it, she would have to leave him to live his normal, human life. That, or somehow take down Klaus and Katherine, which currently seemed like the less likely of two evils. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she quickly checked her texts.

 **"See, isn't it better without her? Stay away from Katherine, and Klaus, or who knows what will happen to poor Matty next? - A"**


	24. 1:21 - For Your Own Good

**1.21 - For Your Own Good**

"So you've been getting them too?" Hanna stared at Mona seriously, holding her phone in her hand as if it was a bomb about to go off. She knew it was time to ask her friend about the –A texts, because for some reason, she had a sneaking suspicion Mona might just be apart of this, but she was sure she was on their side of things. She and Mona had been close since the beginning of high school, especially after Ali's initial disappearance, and it was time to ask her for help. She was so sick and tired of having her life controlled by this unknown phantom person on her phone that she had fully had enough. "We thought we had to be the only ones."

"No, I've been getting them for months now. Always stupid threats telling me what to do, or what not to do, where to go, where to shop..." Mona went on, motioning with her hands in frustration.

"Where to shop?" Hanna laughed at her words with a shake of her head.

"No, not really, I'm exaggerating. This style is all my own." Mona grinned jokingly at her friend smiling back at her. It was amazing that they could smile through this whole ordeal, but maybe that's why she loved hanging out with Hanna so much.

"So you'll help us? We could seriously use your amazing cyber stalking skills, Mona."

"Consider it done." Mona gave her a wink, almost excited to begin her snooping. It was time for revenge, and that was something Mona did best.

* * *

Lost in thought, Hanna walked back from Spencer's house later that evening. The girls had all met to catch up and discuss the latest events, mostly the discovery of vampires in their lives, which was probably just about the biggest thing that had developed yet. Spencer had the hardest time believing the two of them, though for some reason Emily accepted it almost immediately. For some reason, in her mind, it just clicked. Hanna herself could hardly still believe it, and it had taken days for the idea to even sink in. Plus, they had Mona on board now, which definitely counted for something. Aria had wanted to spend the night explaining the story to them in fuller detail, which Spencer was questioning every part of, so Hanna took the liberty to go home and catch up on some sleep, since she had already gone over this with Aria about a thousand times, and no one had to tell her again that vampires existed. She was a full believer by this point.

The sun had just set, so she tried to make her way back home as quickly as possible. Hanna hurried along the dimly lit path back towards her house, but she barely heard a rustle in the branches in the bushes next to her before Damon was suddenly standing directly in her path. She gasped at the sight of him, she hadn't seen him since the incident. "Damon! What're you..."

"I know you said you needed time, and some space but," He interrupted, trying to get as close to her as he could without making her too uncomfortable. "I had to see you, Hanna. I can't just let things go, I -" Damon fumbled for words, the frustration and sadness over loosing his normal life building in his voice. "I missed you, Hanna."

"Damon, don't talk to me like nothing happened, you know what happened, I can't just..." She shook her head, unable to form complete sentences as she took a frightened step backwards from him. She knew he wouldn't hurt her, but she couldn't help but feel slightly afraid of the man standing before her. Or should she say, vampire.

"I would take it all back if I could. All of it. It was a mistake, we can just sit down, talk about it, have a glass of wine, whatever you want to do." He smiled, trying to make her feel more comfortable, but his words only seemed slightly ridiculous in her mind. "Hanna. I would never hurt you. Just please, please trust me."

Hanna stared at him in silence, and suddenly, all she saw was Damon. Damon, the annoying, snarky older brother of her best friend. The guy she had started to develop feelings for. The guy who kissed her and touched her unlike anyone ever had before in her life. She took a few steps closer to him as the confusion overwhelmed her, and a tear began to fall down her face.

She felt her lip begin to quiver, and seeing her breaking down, Damon swooped in closer, and caught her in an embrace. "Shh." He whispered to her as she began to cry lightly into his chest. "I just want to protect you, Hanna. I'm here for you, I promise."

Hanna caught hold of herself, relishing in their closeness, and wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing his face towards hers. The embrace turned into a deep, drawn out kiss. In the moment, their worries washed away, and nothing else mattered but each other.

But, a thought quickly crept back into Hanna's mind: A. A said she needed to break things off with him, or he was going to get hurt; she needed to leave, she couldn't put him in danger like this. She tore herself away from him almost as soon as the thought entered her head, the tears starting again now as she vigorously shook her head. "No! No Damon, I can't do this! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I can't."

Damon stared at her in confusion, unable to comprehend the sudden change, and reading her emotion as a reaction to him. "But, Hanna..." His tone becoming a little more desperate at the thought of losing her just yet, right as he felt his feelings for the girl growing stronger by the second.

"No! Damon, please, you have to stop trying. Forget about me," She choked on her tears, as she tried to make her way past him to get home. "It's for your own good, please." She begged, looking him straight in the eye before she sped off into the darkness towards her house.

For his own good? Damon thought as he felt himself choking up after the sudden flood of emotions. Now what could she possibly mean by that?


	25. 1:22 – Confessions

**1.22 – Confessions**

Aria reluctantly picked up her phone. It had been a few days since she had last spoken with Stefan. She still wasn't completely over their last little encounter, but as she scrolled through her phone looking for his number, she glanced the same - A message glowing through her tiny phone screen that had told her and Hanna to break up with Stefan and Damon. She knew she had to do it, but each time she inched her finger closer to Stefan's number, she felt a surge go through her entire her body, she'd had to do it, she just had to hear his voice for the last time...

 _-Ring Ring -_

Aria held the phone up to her ear, biting the corner of her mouth nervously.

She heard a sound like someone rifling through their pocket. All of a sudden, she heard a deep, familiar voice, "Aria?"

"Stefan, hi," Aria spoke - she couldn't even force the words out of her mouth, too many emotions were overflowing her brain and she couldn't make sense of them all... She had so many things to tell Stefan but because of -A she couldn't.

Stefan took a deep breath, "Aria, I'm... I'm sorry. I wanted to call you so many times, I just..."

Aria cut him off, "I asked you not too, I know," her words were beginning to bubble over each other. Her throat was beginning to get all choked up from the news that she was about to tell Stefan, "Stefan, I don't think that I can do this anymore-"

Stefan interrupted her, "Aria. I know about -A," he said bluntly.

Aria's eyes widened, "What? How?"

"It's a long story," Stefan said reassuringly, "Damon and I are working on it."

Aria sat up urgently, "Stefan, you don't know what you're getting yourself into," she replied, "I don't think you understand. This person is the most twisted, demented psycho you'll ever meet I-" Aria's voice suddenly got even more nervous, her hands gripped both her phone and her duvet cover. She couldn't even think of Stefan going after this, she didn't even know what "it"or -A was.

Stefan looked down at his feet and then stared outwards with a serious glance as he held on to his phone. Even though he couldn't see Aria, he could tell what she was feeling, "Aria, I promise. We're more connected to this -A monster more than you'll ever know," he furrowed his brow and bit his bottom lip slightly - trying to express some kind of concern or comfort to Aria over the phone, "I promise. I'll protect you. Whatever it takes."

Aria leaned back on her bed frame as she tried to make sense of this entire conversation. She brushed her raven-black hair backward in frustration. She couldn't have predicted the next words that would come out of her mouth, but they did.

 **"Stefan, I love you."**

Stefan smiled slightly at the sound of this statement. Even though they had only been together for a while, and now they were apart. He wanted so badly to rush to her house to see her but he knew that he couldn't. Then with a deep breath, Stefan replied, **"I love you Aria."**

"And that's why I can't be with you right now," Aria said as she wiped a single tear from her cheek, "Even though I've wanted to say that to you for a while, with -A out on the loose, I can't afford to lose anymore people that I really care about," She paused, thinking about her next few words very carefully, "Even Damon, maybe one day. There's a possibility I'll forgive him. But for now, I can't be near any of you, trust me," - Aria closed her eyes and imagined the ominous -A text that flashed over her mind.

Stefan closed his mouth tightly and squinted his eyes - he was on the verge of crying, not because he was sad but because he understood what Aria was doing and he couldn't stand to hear or see her hurt, "I understand."

Aria, "Just hold on to that, Stefan, please?"

Stefan nodded his head - even though she couldn't see him, Aria nodded her head as if she were agreeing with him, "Don't let that go, okay?" she whispered.

Aria put her phone down from her ear and pressed end. As she wiped the tears which were pouring down her face with her hands, she looked up defiantly: she was proud of what she had just done.

Suddenly, her phone vibrated. This time when Aria looked down, she rolled her eyes slightly: Right on schedule, -A

 **Hey Aria-** _ **The course of true love never did run smooth.**_ **You can tell Stefan to save me the** **last dance** **. If not, it could be his last. ;) Kisses -A**

* * *

Rosewood Falls: Early Evening

"Guys. This is serious. I've had it. We need a plan to take down -A once and for all," Spencer whispered to the rest of the group, trying to keep her voice down so that the whole Grill wouldn't hear about their -A plans.

"Well what're we supposed to do," Emily replied worriedly as she tried to avoid eye contact with Spencer.

Spencer glared at Emily but then quickly retreated back into 'leader' mode, "We need to find Alison and get her to help us."

"Yeah and how are we supposed to do that," Hanna replied sarcastically, "It's not like we can just leave a block of cheese and wait for her to come out of her hole, or something. She's not a mouse," Hanna snapped - she was trying to pay attention to this conversation but her mind was somewhere between stressing over her breakup with Damon and wanting to kill this bitch -A who was making their lives a living hell at the moment.

Spencer rolled her eyes at Hanna, "We need a scapegoat. Someone to be our Trojan horse, or a double agent. Like Benedict Arnold to go undercover for us," she cleared her throat, "I also know that she's been hiding out somewhere in the woods. I know, because one of the surveyors at the historical society thought he saw a blonde figure rush past him while he was walking, but he just thought it was a coincidence, clearly he doesn't know Ali.."

Hanna and Aria exchanged nervous glances. Could Ali be a vamp-? No. That would be impossible...

Hanna spoke up, "I'll do it."

All the girls stared directly at Hanna.

"You'll what?" Emily spoke up, shocked at Hanna's response.

Spencer cut her off and whispered back in a forceful tone, "Listen, we can get close to Alison. Pretend to be friends with her, -A will know. Go after her, then, at the halloween "masked" dance, there will be a lot of people. Hanna will switch places with Alison.

Aria furrowed her brow and crossed her arms in confusion, "And what? Just leave Hanna there so that -A can kill her?"

Spencer looked over at Hanna and then back at Aria, "She won't. I read about this secret mining tunnel that runs through the bottom of the school that's been around for centuries. I saw it once when I looking at the old plans of the town. Hanna will chase -A down to the bottom of the school, we'll trap -A throw "it" down there and then wait for our next move."

Hanna's widened her eyes and took a nervous gulp, "I guess, maybe that'll work."

"It's true, I saw something about it on the computer yesterday, I didn't think they were real." Aria replied, looking anxiously over at Hanna.

Hanna nodded in silent agreement - trying to keep Aria, Damon and Stefan's secrets under wraps.

Emily stared at her hands in front of her, "Are you sure that'll work?"

Spencer pursed her lips, "It's the only chance we have to trap -A and take it, whatever "it" is down for good.

The four girls exchanged anxious glances. They were so close to catching -A. They just wanted it out of their lives for good so they could move and get on with their lives. Suddenly, breaking the silence, the waitress walked by and placed their check on the table. "Have a good day ladies," she said with a smile.

Spencer slowly looked down. Then, her eyes widened when she saw the contents of the check, which wasn't a check at all, "Guys," she spoke - everyone looked towards her, "Looks like we'll see -A there," she whispered as she held up one of the cream invitation with emboldened orangish-gold cursive lettering:

 **You are Cordially Invited To This Year's Halloween Festivities**

 **It's Going to Be a Night to Die For**

 **Where: Rosewood High Falls**

 **Dress: Costume masquerade**

 **RSVP: ASAP**

 **Sincerely, -A**


	26. 1:23 - Just Perfect

**1.23 - Just Perfect**

Mona looked up from her textbook, and took the pen she had been fiddling with from her lips before speaking to her newest charity case when it came to tutoring, Tyler. "So, Lockwood, do you finally understand?"

"Yeah." He stated matter-of-factly, flipping to the next page with a purpose. "Of course I get it. I think I've gotten it this whole time. What I don't get is why we're wasting so much time talking when we could be doing something a lot more fun."

Mona rolled her eyes at his constant advances. "Honestly, Lockwood. These advances are getting boring." She sighed before an idea suddenly dawned on her. He was perfect for their plan she had been scheming with Hanna and the other girls to create. He was innocent, had some brawn, and she was fairly sure she could manipulate him into doing just about anything if she flashed him the right sort of smile. Just the type of person she needed to help take down A. "How'd you like to join in on something?"

Tyler narrowed his eyes at Mona before speaking, trying to edge his way closer to her. There was just something about the girl that drove him wild. Maybe it was her avoidance of his advances that just fed the chase for her, but whatever this chemistry was between them, he was hooked. "What kind of something are we talking about?"

"Oh, I think you're going to like this one." She winked at him with a slightly maniacal grin passing her face as she did so.

* * *

Hanna sighed as she hopped off the kitchen chair, making her way towards the ringing front door. She had been in the middle of browsing the latest fashion magazines, so if Aria hadn't been taking a shower upstairs she'd have yelled for her to get it. "I'm coming, I'm coming." She mumbled with annoyance before swinging the door open. In a shock, she stepped backwards as she saw the figure standing in front of her. "Damon, what're you doing...?" She questioned him, totally flustered by his appearance. The last time they had spoken over a week ago now she made it clear that he needed to stay away from her.

The scent of alcohol on his breath was slightly palpable, and his outfit was a bit disheveled, and yet somehow he still looked flawless. It was the vampire in him that made him so attractive, she supposed. That's what the internet had said, anyway. "I can't just stay away, you and I both know that, Hanna." Damon gave a flippant hand gesture as he figured he was stating the obvious. "I'm not just going to sit at home knitting sweaters and watching the home shopping network waiting for your call. I'm going to fight for you, and make things right." He babbled on, trying not to lose her gaze, which was one of definite concern. He leaned in towards her before whispering, "I was set up, Hanna."

"Ugh, Damon, you're drunk." Hanna waved his face away with her hand, clearly smelling the leftover bourbon scent. "How much does it take to get a vampire drunk? A keg?"

"Hanna. You're not listening to me." Damon became a little frantic as he grabbed her shoulders and faced her towards him, trying in his current state to get her to pay attention. "I was set up, Hanna. By A. Who is this A person? Are they threatening you? Because I would beat them up so fast they'd hardly have time to blink."

Hanna let his words sink in, her eyes growing wider as she stared blankly at him. He knew about A. Clearly, A had let him know some way or another. All she knew now is that meant he wasn't safe. "We can't talk about this here." She hurriedly whispered to him as she dragged him inside and shut the door carefully behind them. "How do you know about A, Damon?"

Damon narrowed his eyes at Hanna, completely confused by her worried reaction. Maybe this was something bigger than he thought. "How do you know about A?" He questioned before realizing that retort didn't quite make sense. Everything was a little fuzzy at the moment. "Or, what do you know? Hanna, I want to help, I want to protect you!"

"This is only going to hurt you, Damon! You can't get involved, it's much more than you could ever imagine, and I don't want them hurting you. They've hurt so many people before, people I care about, and they can't get you too, not this time, so just stay out of it!" Hanna became completely upset at the thought of A affecting her life any more than they had already.

Damon moved her towards him with a determined look on his face. "What can they do to me? I'm already dead." He laughed before continuing. "Hanna, whatever it is, I'm all in. Let's get this son of a bitch." He pulled her closer as he swept her in for a kiss.

She laughed against his lips. "Next time, do me a favor and try Listerine if you're going to drink an entire vineyard."

"Shut up and kiss me." Damon mumbled as he put his hands against the small of her back, bringing her body closer to his, deepening the kiss her had started moments before. So much for staying apart.

"Oh my god."

Damon and Hanna broke apart immediately at the sound of the ever familiar voice. Aria.

"Aria! Damon was just..." Hanna began, trailing off before she could think up an excuse.

"Just what? Devouring your face with his mouth? What, is she your next victim, Damon? Coming over for a quick snack?" Aria fumed, completely frazzled and confused at the sight in front of her.

"Of course not! Aria, it's not like that..." Damon tried to defend his actions to his sister before she interrupted.

"What? Not like what? My best friend making out with my vampire brother? Because that's all I'm seeing right now." Aria began to get frantic as she spoke, gesturing a lot with her hands. "I seriously cannot handle this right now!" She stormed into the kitchen with a shake of her head.

"Aria, wait!" Hanna gave Damon a look of concern before heading after her friend.

"Aria, come on..." Damon followed after the girls, wanting to bang his head against a wall. This was not the way he wanted his sister to find out, but the universe seemed to be completely against him, so at this point, it seemed inevitable.

* * *

"Tyler?" Mona called out at the front door of the Lockwood mansion, unsure why he wasn't answering. She was scheduled to meet him here for another study session, but this time the studying was going to be limited. She planned to use most of the time to catch him up on the A situation and try and get him involved in the plan. She wasn't used to waiting around for him, he usually was drawn to her like a moth to a flame. "Tyler!" Mona called again before making her way towards the back of the house. Maybe he was outside on the back porch or something.

She began to hear a strange noise that almost sounded like screaming coming from the nearby woods. Mona wasn't positive whether it was an animal scream or a human one, but she was sure there was some sort of sound of Tyler. "Tyler?! Is everything okay?" She yelled out nervously as she made her way towards the sound.

Hiding behind a tree, Mona suddenly saw the source of the noise. It was Tyler, well, sort of. He was hunched over in complete pain, and his body was contorting itself in a manner she had never quite seen before. Her eyes grew wide and frightened as she realized what was happening. He was...changing. Into what, she wasn't prepared to find out, and she had a bad feeling she shouldn't stick around. As soon as his appearance began to become more wolf like, she bolted out of there, and ran as fast as she could towards home, where she knew she'd be safe. Mona blocked out the faint screams of her classmate in the distance, vowing to come to help once she knew exactly what was going on. What exactly had she just seen?


	27. 1:24 – Breakdown

**1.24 – Breakdown**

"Just leave me alone, Damon!" Aria yelled frustratingly as she sprinted down the street from Hanna's house. She didn't know where she was going, she just knew that she had to get out of that place. She couldn't say she was surprised about Damon and Hanna. She knew deep down that they always like each other, but she couldn't handle all this plus her sort of brother being a vampire plus all of this creepy -A stalker stuff, and she didn't even have Stefan to help her deal with these problems. She felt so alone.

Aria stopped on the pavement corner and knelt down, clutching her knees tightly to her chest, she closed her eyes praying that all of this drama would just go away.

Suddenly, she heard a familiar, gruff yet sympathetic voice right beside her that woke her up from this fantasy, "Aria? Please. Can we please just talk?"

Aria opened her eyes and glared at her brother. The fear that she once felt for her 'fake brother' had left and all she now felt towards him were intense feelings of anger and betrayal, "What do you want Damon?" she replied through gritted teeth, "What could you possibly say to me to make this any better? My whole life has been a lie and it's all because of you!"

Damon furrowed his brow and looked at Aria with puppy-dog eyes, "I know. I'm sorry."

Aria stood her place and widened her eyes in disbelief, "I'm sorry?! That's all you can say?" she said as she crossed her arms.

Damon slowly walked towards Aria. Aria looked cautiously back at Damon and held her ground - not backing away from his advances, "Aria. I meant everything I said to you when you saw me arguing with Stefan the other day in the alley way. Aria, trust me. We've always been family, I never made you lose your memory or manipulated you in anyway. I just wanted a family and to stop running after all of these years," Damon spoke in a serious tone.

Aria's eyes began to glisten, she had spent too many days crying over Damon and Stefan and she couldn't do it anymore. She couldn't even think of a response to Damon, "So what? I don't even know why you would want one, and why me? When did you even deci-"

Damon rushed toward Aria until they stood face to face and put his hands on his little sister's shoulders, "Aria, usually I could come up with some witty response but this time I just can't. And not to get into too much of a Lifetime original moment, but we are family. It doesn't matter what lineage or from what time period, technically we are, and I just want that back," Damon replied - a single tear began to make its way down Damon's cheek. He never cried in front of anyone, especially Aria, and especially Hanna. This snarky, cold-hearted vampire had a sense of humanity in him after all.

There was a five second silence. Then, Aria took her hand and wiped the tears from her face, "Damon, I tried to get you to watch one of those movies one time and you threw a pillow at the TV and said 'I want my life back!'" Aria said, laughing nervously as she recalled that funny memory.

Damon's sly smile began to creep back on his face, "Hey, I can only take so much estrogen, PMS-ing fueled content at one time." he replied - he was glad to hear his sister's laugh again.

"Hey, don't be sexist you jerk," Aria said, nudging her brother's arm slightly. She was glad that she had her brother back. No matter what he was, or is, "Can I have my brother back please?" Aria looked up at Damon as if she were five years old again.

Damon smiled and hugged his sister, "You got it."

As they both continued hugging, Stefan and Hanna came running towards them - out of breath - their faces suddenly looked surprised at this nice moment that was happening between Damon and Aria.

"Hey guys," Hanna said awkwardly - breaking up this little sibling moment.

Aria gave Hanna a cheeky smile, "Oh sorry Hanna, didn't me to hog Damon away from you," she replied teasingly.

Hanna smiled at her best friend, "No it's fine, I'm just glad to see you guys are okay," she spoke.

Aria looked at Hanna and then turned her head to face Stefan - now standing apart from her brother, "Well, now that's all settled. What're we going to about this -A situation?" she said, re-crossing her arms matter-of-factly, glancing at Stefan who had remained silent up to this point, "Stefan?"

"Hanna has a plan." Stefan spoke up, smiling slightly at Aria.

Damon and Aria whipped their heads around to look at Hanna with shocked looks on their faces.

"Wow, I always knew you had beauty and brains," Damon said, winking at Hanna as he inched closer to her. Aria began to walk towards Stefan.

Hanna smiled and rolled her eyes at Damon, "We came up with a plan, but we need you guys to be at the school dance that's coming up soon. Can you do that?"

Stefan and Damon exchanged glances, "So... Is this like a date?" Damon replied. Stefan and Damon both exchanged individual looks with Aria and Hanna.

Hanna squinted her eyes annoyingly at Damon. Aria looked up with her doe-like eyes at Stefan, "You could say that..," Hanna spoke up, Aria nodded in agreement.

"Okay it's a date then," Stefan spoke, keeping his gaze on Aria, "Or plan."

* * *

"Well, I guess we need a new plan now," Katherine sneered, she was on her third glass of wine, bored and angry over waiting for Klaus to come up with a new idea that wouldn't involve Alison.

"Patience, love," Klaus replied, looking up from his scotch glass, "I have a feeling that Alison leaving won't be as easy as she thinks it will be," a mischievous smile flashed across his face.

"What do you mean?" Katherine said, looking up curiously, trying to match Klaus's expression.

"I mean, there are few things that you don't know about the night that you found Alison."

Katherine set her glass down, "Just spit it out Klaus," she spoke, maintaining her glare at Klaus, "What do you know about that night."

"Well, I'll tell you you weren't that first person to find Alison that night."

Katherine widened her eyes, "Wait- Did you...? No. You didn't...?" she muttered, as she got up hurriedly from her chair and made her way to the fireplace.

"Now come now, love, you're smarter than this," Klaus sneered, taking another gulp from his drink. He so enjoyed taking pleasure from other people's pain and frustration.

Katherine quickly turned around to face Klaus, "She's a hybrid?" she said, pursing her lips,

Within turning his head to face Katherine, Klaus nodded his head slightly in acknowledgement.

"Then why did you let her feed on me then?" Katherine replied, rushing towards Klaus, standing ominously over this man: she needed answers _now_.

Klaus put down his glass and put his fingers together, "Call it an act of charity, I guess."

"What do you mean?!" Katherine spoke, she was this close to ripping Klaus's head off but she knew that he could easily kill her in two or three different moves.

"Come now, Katherine, you must've known that I had been keeping tabs on you for all those years. I had to watch you get broken up with twice by the two great loves of your life. I thought you deserved to have some love in your life, compelled or not."

Katherine's face had transformed, through her demon-like stare, she prepared to tackle Klaus to the floor, "She was not compelled!" Katherine yelled.

Before she could attack, Klaus waved his finger. Suddenly, Katherine fell to the floor in pain, she felt the blood rush through her brain at a rapid pace, "Okay, okay! Stop, please!" she screamed as she clutched the sides of her head, crying in agony over this intense pain.

Klaus waved his finger again and Katherine stopped writhing on the floor, "I did you a favor, love," he rolled his eyes and picked up his drink again.

Katherine tried to push her up from her lying position but she was too weak, "Everything's been a lie," she muttered to herself.

Klaus looked back down at Katherine with a stern look, "Oh don't be so dramatic, Katherine," he glanced forward, "We have nothing to worry about. Let Alison pretend to think she's one of the 'good guys,' but this can actually work out in our favor," Klaus whispered to himself as he finished his drink and got up from his chair, kneeling down to look at the motionless Katherine, "I have everything taken care of, love, don't worry."

As Klaus walked away, Katherine lay on the floor. Closing her eyes, she couldn't even think about being angry at Klaus, all she could think about was one person: Alison.

* * *

Aria, Stefan, Damon and Hanna stood in the middle of Hanna's kitchen. Satisfied with the final details of their upcoming -A plans, their happiness was suddenly shattered by a familiar ringing sound, this time from all of their phones:

" **'4 Blind Mice. 4 Blind Mice'**

 **What fun! You all think you're cleverer than me? Think again. You have no idea who you're dealing with, or...do you? –A"**


	28. 1:25 - Bitter Meetings

**1.25 - Bitter Meetings**

Mona swung open the door after hearing it ring from her seat in the kitchen. The face standing in front of her threw her off guard, it was Tyler. Of course, it had become their usual day for studying, but after what she saw the other night, Mona wasn't exactly expecting him to actually show up. She had no idea how this whole werewolf thing worked, but she was pretty sure that it must have taken some sort of a toll on him. "Tyler, what're you..." She began, a completely puzzled look on her face as she stared back at his clear eagerness for their session.

"What, is it not Wednesday? I'm here for studying, sweetheart. You think I'd skip out on you?" Tyler looked at Mona with his usual cocky arrogance, completely oblivious to the fact that she'd witnessed his transition.

"Tyler, we need to talk about something." Mona began, not sure exactly how to approach this subject delicately. She usually had a problem with being a little too concise, but this she knew was not a matter to blurt out her first thoughts of. "I know why you weren't at our last meeting."

Tyler's eyes grew a little larger, remembering the events of the previous week. But she couldn't mean... could she? "Oh, yeah, didn't mean to stand you up, just some family stuff came up, you know how it is." He brushed the subject off nervously.

"Well if that's family stuff then you've got quite the interesting one." Mona continued, trying to bring the conversation back to the direction she wanted it to head in. "I saw you, Tyler. I saw what happened. I was there, I heard noises out back and I went searching for you and, well, I don't know what I saw. I mean, I think I know, but it's even hard for me to wrap my head around."

"You what?" Tyler whispered under his breath in almost a panic. "Mona, you don't know what you saw. It was nothing, it's not what you think."

"I'm sorry, you call that nothing? Tyler you looked like you were about to morph into some sort of animal, and I think there's a term for that, it's called a werewolf."

"Mona, you don't know what you saw." Tyler's face grew an even stronger serious expression. Practically no one in town knew his secret, and he intended to keep it that way. As long as no one got hurt, it was fine. "I've got to go." And with that, he turned on his heels and sulked back towards his house in a panic.

"Tyler!" Mona called out after him, but let him walk away, knowing he needed to process this. Just as he was getting interesting.

* * *

It was getting close to midnight as Caroline pulled up her driveway, coming home from another extravagant outing with Klaus. Things between them lately had been seemingly progressing to a whole new level, although she was still keeping most of the details under wraps from her closest friends, who she knew wouldn't exactly approve. Honestly, she barely knew what she was doing, but at this point she knew she couldn't hide her feelings for him any longer, from him, or herself. As she yanked the gear shift into park, her eyes narrowed at the figure emerging from the doorway. Damon Montgomery. Her blood began to boil as she watched her sister Hanna give him a parting kiss with a wistful, lovesick smile, and he squeezed her hand before he took his steps down the porch towards home.

When Damon first came to town a few years back, Caroline's suspicions were raised almost immediately. Of course, they came to be correct when he tried to compel her to remember his presence in the town, only to be surprised that she herself was also a vampire. She had been turned by Katherine three years ago now when she had wandered through town in search of Klaus. Knowing Klaus' weakness for Caroline, she turned her in a revenge plot to get the cure from him before they ended up taking the same, twisted side, though Caroline preferred to stay out of the loop when it came to those details. All she knew was that Damon's act wasn't fooling her, and the last thing she wanted was her little sister to get dragged into all of this. "Hey, you!" With a determined look on her face, she slammed the car door and headed in his direction. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Damon?" She angrily whispered towards him, not wanting her sister to hear the confrontation she was about to have.

"Well I don't think that's really any of your little business, now is it, Caroline?" He spat back sarcastically, trying to brush off the blonde that had always just rubbed him the wrong way. He didn't have any patience for this now, he had just started to get back Hanna, and now this?

Caroline pushed him into her way, "Of course it's my business, who do you think you are? That's my sister, Damon, and I want you to stay away from her. You are so not dragging her into whatever twisted life you have here in Rosewood; I am not letting that happen. She doesn't deserve this life, Damon."

"Caroline you have no idea what you're talking about, and now, if you don't mind, I'm going home to bed." Damon tried to push his way past her again, but this time, she was much more forceful about getting in his path.

"Stay away from Hanna, Damon. And that's not a suggestion." Caroline growled at him under her breath.

"Or what? Now let's not forget that I've got a little secret of yours that you wouldn't be so keen on getting out now would you?" Damon sarcastically brushed off her threats, "Or, did you suddenly decide to tell your sister you're a bloodsucking vampire, just like me?" He spat, grinning at the look of defeat on her face. "Oh? No? That's what I thought. See you round, sis." He joked, knocking her shoulder with his as he pushed past her for the last time that evening and headed towards home.

* * *

Mona was just about to turn off her last bedroom lamp as she heard a small rapping noise at her window. She cautiously moved towards it, only to look out and see Tyler throwing small stones below, motioning for her to join him outside. She made her way downstairs, wrapping a bathrobe around her as she went. She closed the door quietly behind her, so as not to wake her step siblings and joined Tyler, who was anxiously awaiting her.

"You were right." He said simply as he gave her an earnest look. "What you saw..." He tried to get out, though it was still difficult for him to speak about it. "You know what I am."

"A werewolf." Mona said simply, unfazed by his nervous behavior. She had spent the last few days thinking about the event, what she'd seen, and what that meant exactly. "And you know what, Lockwood? For once in your life, that actually makes you unbelievably intriguing."

Tyler stood in front of her, taken a little aback at her words. She was okay with this? She wasn't panicking? He expected a full on freak out, but then again, he should have known Mona of all people could process things to a higher degree. "Well, at least I've got something going for me." He shrugged with a slight, nervous laugh, still unable to comprehend her calm nature.

"You know, you might just prove to be very useful." Mona continued, sizing him up for future plotting. "So, tell me more about how this werewolf thing works."


	29. 1:26 - Or Else

**1.26 - Or Else**

"Alison," Emily said, standing frozen in her bedroom doorway.

"Hey Em," Alison replied, in her familiar soft yet subtly menacing tone.

"What're you doing here?" Emily whispered, her eyes darted around her room, she wasn't sure if her mother was home yet, but she couldn't risk anyone finding out that Ali was hiding out here.

"Come on, Emily," Ali answered in a similar hushed tone of voice, "You knew that I would come back for you eventually," Ali began to make her way towards Emily. Unafraid of her former best friend, Emily stood her ground.

"What do you want, Alison?" Emily said through gritted teeth; she was done pretending to be the former "sweet" version of herself, no longer afraid of Alison, or maybe -A, who knows?

"Well that's a scary look, Em..." Alison replied with a sneaky smile, as she slowly walked through Emily's room, picking up random childhood objects, "I need you help," she said, turning around to face Emily.

Emily's eyes widened, "You need my help?" she said in disbelief, "We haven't seen you in a year Ali."

Alison walked toward Emily and put both hands on her shoulders, "I know, and I know you've been getting those texts from -A. I have too, and I wanted to help."

Emily recoiled from Alison's delicate hands as she shook her head back and forth in disbelief. This was the same old Ali, manipulating and preying on people's emotions, only reaching out for help when she thought it could benefit herself. But, she remembered Spencer's plan and reluctantly prepared herself to help Alison out.

"Okay, I'm listening," she muttered back to Alison.

Alison sat down on the foot of Emily's bed and looked down at her laced fingers like a kid who just got sent to detention. "I can't tell you much, Em, but what I can tell you is that people are after me. After all of us. And I can't protect myself any longer." Alison whispered, as she rested both of her hands on her soft, round cheeks, remembering how Katherine's threats after her date with Matt, "Plus, I met someone and I just want to make sure he's safe too."

Emily looked at Ali with a puzzled expression but slowly began to put her arm around her best friend in a comforting motion, "We're here for you, Ali."

Alison rested her head lightly on Emily's shoulder. Even though she had missed all of of her friends while she had been away, Emily had always been one of her favorites, "Thanks, Em."

"We just need to know that we can trust you," she whispered as she looked down at Ali with a more serious expression.

Ali diverted her eyes away from Emily's stare, but then turned to match her gaze with her piercing, blue eyes, "You can."

Emily turned her head and stared at the wall. Why was she always the one who fell for Alison's tricks? She knew that deep down, Alison had a soft, sympathetic center, a side to her that she only showed to others when she was at her most vulnerable. Sure, the girls were using her to lure and trap -A once and for all, but she wanted to help Ali and rescue her best friend from whatever monster had kept her trapped and hidden away from her home for so long.

* * *

"Hey, Elena, just got back from the bookstore and you'll never believe all the stuff I found!" Ezra said as he walked eagerly through his apartment door with paper bags full of books under each arm, proudly showing off his inner bookworm, nerd self.

"That's great Ezra." Elena smiled as she sat cross-legged on Ezra's couch with her journal resting on one leg.

Ezra walked over towards Elena and gave her a light kiss. After months of dating in secret, they had gotten into an almost normal routine.

Sitting down next to Elena, Ezra put his arm around her as they looked towards the TV to watch one of the classic films that always was on in his apartment.

"Hey Ezra," Elena said as she looked towards Ezra with a sly smile. Her eyes began to widen and Ezra felt an icy cold chill come over his whole entire body. All of a sudden, his mind felt paralyzed as he saw Elena's face turn from its previous sweet demeanor to an evil, demon-like expression. Sitting completely motionless, his eyes staring blankly at this brunette girl, Elena's face soon transformed into none other than Katherine Pierce.

"Hm I forgot how easy human beings can be to manipulate." Katherine muttered mischievously, "You're cute though, I'll give you that."

Suddenly, the apartment door swung open to expose the real Elena who had run upstairs and was now in an utter panic after hearing multiple people say that they had seen Elena at certain, strange spots around Rosewood Falls.

"Back off, Katherine," Elena yelled who was now no longer afraid of her evil doppelgänger, "You're not going to hurt him."

At vampire speed, Katherine rushed towards Elena, clutched her throat and held her against the wall, "Oh relax, Elena. If you help me, I won't hurt you and your little boy-toy," Katherine whispered, as she maintained her malicious grin.

Elena struggled underneath Katherine's intense grip, "Why... Would... I... Help... You...?" she replied, trying to muster every ounce of breath that Katherine was trying to take away from her through her vampire death-hold.

"Let's cut to the chase, okay Elena?" Katherine gave a peevish sigh, "I'm working with Klaus. We need the cure. Your little witch friend Bonnie knows where it is or maybe even has the cure. If you want her to still be alive when she comes back to town then you'll do what I say. If you tell anyone about me, then maybe your boyfriend Ezra might have some sort of accident, or maybe I'll just tell the whole town about you two."

Elena glanced sympathetically to the motionless Ezra who was still sitting with his back turned towards the two girls. She hadn't even gotten up the courage to tell Ezra about her whole entire life story. She never even thought Katherine could sink so low as to go after a normal, average-joe type of guy but she couldn't say that she was really surprised by her impulsive actions.

"Fine. Just let him go," Elena whispered through an equally menacing tone, glaring at Katherine through squinted eyes. "Stop compelling him and tell me what I need to do."

Katherine loosed her grip and Elena fell to the floor, "That's a good döppleganger," she spoke in a sickeningly-sweet, melodic voice. "I'll fill you in later but for now I have to go. You can have Ezra back now." Turning towards Ezra, fixating her eyes on his face, she felt a sudden pang in her heart or rather a sort of magnetic pull, like something she had only felt around Alison. However, shaking her head, Katherine shrugged off this feeling, relieved Ezra from her compulsion and disappeared from the room.

Rushing over to Ezra, Elena spread her arms and hugged Ezra with all of her might. And with a puzzled expression, Ezra gave Elena an uneasy yet happy grin, "Well it's good to see you too," he said with a nervous laugh.

* * *

8:00 PM:

As Alison left Emily's house, she looked down at her phone, smiling at the multiple cutesy texts that Matt had written to ask her to meet him at the Grill. With a flirtatious smile on her face, preparing to text him back, Alison bumped into a familiar tall, lanky body in front of her.

"Klaus," Alison said in a monotonous tone, looking up from her phone.

"In a hurry, love?" Klaus replied through his usual sarcastic grin, "Off to go see your little blonde friend again?"

"Matt, you mean?" Alison snapped at him. She had never been afraid to stand up to Klaus. Despite his reputation for being one of the most powerful, murderous, sociopath-vampires on the planet, "Yes, and you're in my way."

Shoving her way past Klaus, Alison felt Klaus arm hit her across her body as he pinned Alison against a nearby brick wall, "Not so fast, love, I've missed you." Klaus said in an even-tempered tone, "I want to give you one last chance to come back to us."

Alison struggled underneath Klaus' grip, even though she knew that she could overtake Klaus, she knew that he could snap her neck in two if she ever tried to resist his power, "No. I'm done with both of you. Katherine especially, I'm with someone new now, and if you ever try to hurt him, I don't care if you try to kill me, you won't come near Matt, understood?" Alison sneered, her face had transformed into its ferocious vampire expression that could serve as an obvious non-physical threat to Klaus. Although unfazed by this young vampires, he loosened his grip a bit around Alison, "Relax, love. I won't go near your small-town boy. However, if you refuse to help us anymore, I would keep your witch friend Emily Fields safe."

At this remark, Alison lunged toward Klaus and let out a ferocious, screaming roar. However, already foreseeing her impulsive actions, Klaus managed to stop Alison's advances and they continued to roll on the dark streets of Rosewood Falls until Alison finally surrendered and they both stood up from their tired, wearied positions.

"Be careful, Alison. Don't say I didn't warn you," Klaus muttered through his evil glare. "You may have underestimated your abilities to defy me." He disappeared into the night.

Alison dusted herself off. Retrieving a compact and lip-gloss from her cross-body purse, she fixed herself up as if a fight had never taken place within this particular location. Looking down at her phone, she saw a new text on her phone. Assuming the message was from Matt, Alison's eyes widened in surprise at its actual contents:

 **You have until midnight The Dance to hand over Emily or else**

 **your friends, Matt, Klaus and Katherine all die. Get it now?**

 **Kisses, -A**


	30. 1:27 - In Your Eyes

**1.27 - In Your Eyes**

Jeremy pulled up the familiar Field's house, and came to a stop, staring at it with a wistful smile, remembering everything that had happened there over the course of his life. Emily, and her family, had been with him through everything. He couldn't even imagine life without her at this point, since he had practically known her for most of it. Not to mention how amazingly supportive she was through his parents divorce, and of course, the even harder re-marriage. It was enough to have Elena as a sister, and now Mona took that to a whole new level. But, Emily was always his shoulder to lean on, and he wanted to be hers in return. He pulled out a large, dated boom box, pressed play, and put it over his head, waiting for the blaring music to cause some sort of response from the girl in the window above.

Emily sat at her desk finishing up her last homework assignment of the day, trying to put the events surrounding this secret -A manipulation plan out of her head completely. But, it was clear something else was going to take her mind off of it, though she wasn't exactly sure what this was yet.

 _Without a noise, without my pride_

 _I reach out from the inside_

 _In your eyes_

 _The light the heat_

 _In your eyes_

Emily slowly approached her window, a grin growing as she realized the scene Jeremy was recreating for her below. _Say Anything_. It was perfect, the trench coat, the song, the boom box. She suddenly started laughing with complete happiness as she opened her window to shout down at him. "What're you doing?"

"I'm asking you to the dance! So what do you say?" Jeremy yelled back up at her, his grin matching hers.

"Yes!" She giggled, before sprinting down the stairs. "Hold on, I'm coming down!"

"Okay, but you might wanna hurry before my arms fall off! Jeez these things are heavy, they make it look a lot easier in the movies." Jeremy laughed, only partially joking, flexing his arms to hold the weight.

Emily immediately ran up to him, and without a moments hesitation, kissed him. He broke the kiss with a grin, setting aside the giant boom box and turning down the volume. "That was probably the most romantic thing anyone's ever done for me. Ever." Emily gushed with a shake of her head, still unsure over her feelings for the guy standing in front of her, but if he kept this up, things were going to be a lot more clear. "But, Jer, I just want to be clear, I still mean the things we talked about last time. I am so excited to go to this dance with you, but I just want you to know, those feelings for Bonnie aren't going to magically disappear."

"I know that, Em, but I don't want to wait. I'm okay with that, but I am going to win you, I just know it. So just give me this night to prove it?" Jeremy looked at her with completely amorous eyes, praying she'd agree.

"Well okay, challenge accepted then." Emily laughed in agreement as she leaned in for another kiss.

* * *

Spencer approached the looming Mikaelson mansion with trepidation. It was not a particularly warm, or welcoming sight. But, Elijah had been nothing but a complete gentleman to her on their rendezvous lately. He was so quietly mysterious, but also exceptionally caring and kind. She had kept his entire existence in her life lately a secret from anyone, but she herself wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was the extreme pull, and immediate, almost overwhelming attraction she felt to him that almost frightened her. He seemed too good to be true, and she didn't quite trust the situation yet. Her gut was telling her there was more to the story. She rang the doorbell, eager to see his comforting face in this not so cozy environment.

The door swung open, but sadly for Spencer, it wasn't Elijah's gaze that met her eyes. "Hello, love. Astonishing, really it is. You know, you look just like someone I used to know. Quite well, actually. It's really quite remarkable." Klaus stared down the intimidated girl before him. Her resemblance to Vivian was completely uncanny, but after all, what did he expect? She was her doppelganger. "You must be Spencer. It's a pleasure, really. I'm Klaus, Elijah's brother."

"Funny, he never mentioned he had a brother." Spencer's eyes narrowed at the unfamiliar man in front of her.

"Yes, well, my brother sometimes likes to forget his relations." Klaus brushed off the comment with a slight annoyance, and was about to continue, but felt the weight of a familiar hand on his shoulder.

"Excuse my brother. Hello Spencer, I'm so pleased you could make it." Elijah cut in with a threatening glare at Klaus. "If you'll just excuse us." He replied to Klaus with annoyance as he took Spencer's hand and pushed them past his brother. He trusted Klaus only when it came to matters of Klaus's own self interest. This, sadly, was not one of those things.

"Fine! Yes, well, enjoy your evening then!" Klaus yelled back at the two who were already heading to another area of the vast mansion, his words echoing across the cold, stone floors.

Spencer's jaw practically hit the floor at the sight of the Mikaelson library. She had been begging Elijah to let her see it as soon as she learned about its contents, but she had no idea quite how vast the collection actually was. She was fairly sure the only library she had seen in comparison was in Beauty and the Beast. "Elijah, its...incredible."

"I knew you would love it." Elijah's eyes had never left Spencer since the second he saw her. It's how it always had become now, he could barely take in the sight of her, he was so completely and utterly infatuated in an almost chemical way. "Come here, look at this!"

He pulled out novel after novel of first editions, some even signed with an original signature. The library must have been worth millions upon millions of dollars, and Spencer's gut feelings of something beneath the surface here were only growing stronger. "Elijah, how is this library even possible?" Spencer questioned hesitantly, "I mean, these books are worth more than this entire town, multiplied by twelve."

"It's been a Mikaelson tradition for centuries. We've always been incredible readers, so we needed a library to match. You can practically trace my family history with some of these novels." Elijah tried to state as broadly an answer as he could, and everything he said was true, to a certain extent.

Spencer, slightly unsatisfied and left with an air of mystery, stopped questioning. One day she'd get to the bottom of this, but for tonight, she would just let herself enjoy the rest of the evening with the man she was so magnetically drawn to.


	31. 1:28 - The Countdown

**1.28 - The Countdown**

"So how's it going, Lockwood?" Mona said, through a tiny yet sincere smile on her face. As she walked up behind Tyler in the school hallway, she wasn't armed with her usual snide remarks that she would normally have made to Tyler. She knew too much about him now to poke fun at his painful werewolf transformation.

"Not bad, Vanderwaal," Tyler replied with his usual sneering expression, as he turned around to face Mona. "What's with the nice act?"

"Don't get used to it," Mona said with a small laugh. "We do need to talk about the dance coming up, though."

Looking around the crowded hallway, Tyler put his hand on Mona's arm and guided her into a nearby empty classroom so that no one would accidentally hear their secret plans, "So is this like a date then?" he whispered to Mona, their faces were now inches apart from each other but this time Mona couldn't make herself push him away, could she be falling for this pretentious rich boy?

"If you want to call it that." Mona murmured back to Tyler, "but don't get any ideas, Tyler. Were doing this for Hanna and the rest of the girls. Save all that romantic dating stuff until after we're done with this plan."

"Hm, then why haven't you moved since we walked in here?" Tyler said, maintaining his same grin. He finally had Mona exactly where he always wanted her to be, yet, he couldn't shake this feeling that she meant more to him than any other girl that he had tried to date. Looking down at his feet nervously, he spoke up in a normal volume, "So what time should I come pick you up then?"

Mona looked down shyly and looked back directly into Tyler's eyes, matching his grin,"7?" she replied as she began to turn around on her brightly colored stiletto heels.

Before she could exit the door, Tyler grabbed Mona's hand and looked into her eyes with an intense, yet almost kind expression that Mona had neither scene nor ever expected to see from Tyler. "So it's definitely a date then?" Tyler spoke up, in an anxious yet defiant tone.

As Mona turned her head, then, without any words, she nodded. "Don't forget, 7 PM. And my corsage better be no less than 80 to 100 dollars." There was the Old Mona.

Reluctantly letting go of Mona's hand, Tyler let out a small chuckle, "Of course," he spoke back. As he watched Mona walk out the classroom door, he couldn't believe this was happening. Former rich play boy Tyler Lockwood was falling for resident geek-turned-popular girl, Mona Vanderwaal. Ever since he had started helping Mona with her '-A plans,' he couldn't help but feel like he had finally found his equal and most importantly, someone that he could share the burden of his werewolf secrets with. As he prepared himself to ditch this school for the rest of the day, his thoughts were consumed with his future date with Mona. Even though this was all part of a bigger plan, Tyler had decided that his eyes, and maybe even heart, were going to be set on winning Mona over, once and for all.

* * *

Sitting on her window sill with her journal in her lap, Aria stared at her window in a deep contemplative state. With all that had happened in her life, thus far, this was the first moment that she had to herself alone, away from all of the crazy -A drama and vampires that had decided to enter her life. However, with the sudden alarming sound of the door bell, Aria was thrown back into this reality.

As Aria opened the door, she gave a gleeful smile, "Stefan," she spoke in a cheerful tone. Although she had kept her promise to -A and had tried to keep her distance from Stefan, she couldn't resist the temptation of running up and flinging her arms around her vampire sort-of-boyfriend. With all this -A drama, she wasn't sure what to call Stefan at this point.

"Hey, I hope it's okay that I came by," Stefan replied, popping his face from under the bouquet of flowers that he was holding, "Also I brought you these."

As Aria extended her hand towards the enormous arrangement of brightly colored flowers, she couldn't wipe off the enormous smile on her face, "You got me flowers? Thanks," she said as she lead Stefan into her house and they continued to walk into her kitchen to search for a vase to put them into.

"Well, I thought it was the least I could do. Plus, I also wanted to ask you something." Stefan responded, as his voice trailed off towards the end of his sentence. Then, before Aria could turn around from filling the vase up with water, in a flash, Stefan was facing her, "Now I know I don't want to mess up this whole -A dance plan up, but since we're both going, would you want to be my date?" Stefan continued, through his sincere yet pleading stare.

Pursing her lips to the side of her mouth, Aria looked back up at Stefan, "Are you sure it's okay?" she muttered, "I mean, you told me that you got that same text from -A. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

At the sight of Aria's distressed expression, Stefan put both of his hands on Aria's petite shoulders, "It won't."

Aria put down the vase and gave Stefan a serious look, "How can you be sure?"

"Because I love you, and no crazy -A person is going to stop me from being with my girlfriend, because remember what I said to you, I will always protect you, Aria, always."

Aria smiled at Stefan, without any words, she put her hands on Stefan's face and kissed him. After weeks of fighting with herself and trying to stay away from Stefan, she had finally given into her temptations. Reciprocating her actions, Stefan held Aria's porcelain face, and at this moment, they both had someone to rely on, someone to depend upon, they didn't feel so alone anymore.

As Stefan slowly pulled his face away, he pulled out a secondary gift from his bag. "Plus, if you're still afraid to go out with -A on the loose, I thought that we could just stay in tonight, since we have a lot of catching up to do," he whispered, showing Aria a series of all of her favorite, classic movies.

Looking back at Stefan, Aria couldn't contain her happiness. Even though things were about to change because of the -A dance plan, she just wanted to live within this one, blissful moment of normalcy between her and her now, definite, boyfriend, "I love that idea," she spoke back, giving Stefan one last quick kiss, "and yes, I'll go to the dance with you."

* * *

"So everyone understands the plan, right?" Spencer spoke, in a serious and urgent tone.

"Yeah, we get it, Spence." Hanna sniped, "It's not that hard to follow."

"Han, this is serious. If this plan doesn't work then we all lose to -A," Spencer sniped right back, "And then who knows what will happen to us? We'll probably all be dead."

A silence fell over the room as all of the girls, plus Stefan and Damon, stood within the Salvatore mansion living room. As the day of the dance was fast approaching, all of them were becoming increasingly anxious about the result of their '-A plan.'

"Easy, Hanna," Damon smirked, "Just listen to Spencer and hope she knows what she's talking about."

Spencer rolled her eyes, "Anyway, Stefan. Damon. I'm putting you both on Klaus and Katherine duty. If they show up, which they probably will, and go after Alison or any one of us, just have our backs, okay?"

Aria's widened her eyes fearfully. Stefan gently squeezed her hand and looked back at Spencer, "Got it," he said.

"Alison and Emily," Spencer continued, turning her head to face her friend, "You stay hidden in the crowds for as long as possible. Also, Em, make sure Jeremy is safe." Spencer whispered, her voice trailing off at that last part. Emily nodded at Spencer and then looked downwards in slight embarrassment.

"Are you sure that this is even going to work?" Alison whispered in a forceful tone.

"No." Spencer answered back, "But let's just hope it does."

"Well that's hopeful," Aria muttered as she crossed her arms, "I don't know how much longer I can take all of this, you guys,"

With nervous glances, everyone looked back at the tiny Aria and then back to Spencer. Although everyone understood the carefully thought out details of the -A plan, there was still a sense of hesitation that loomed over all of their minds. Suddenly, their plaguing thoughts were interrupted by a familiar, ringing sound. Without thinking, everyone removed their phones from their pockets and stared at the message. Spencer read it aloud:

 **"What fun. All of my favorite people in one space.**

 **This should be a night to remember." - A**


	32. 1:29 - Can't Lose You

**1.29 - Can't Lose You**

Damon left their little group pow wow with a worried expression plastered to his face. "Hanna, hey. Wait up a sec." He called after the blonde, seemingly rushing out of the room as fast as she could.

Hanna turned around with a hesitant glance, thinking she knew what speech was coming from Damon. "Yeah?"

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Damon whispered, getting closer to her and holding her arms as he spoke.

"What, saving my friends, you, and probably myself? Yeah, I think I got this, thanks." Hanna laughed jokingly, and with a shake of her head dismissed the worry in his voice.

Damon, however, was not amused. "Hanna. This is serious. Listen to me, we don't know what this person, or thing or whatever they are, is capable of. I don't want you going in there blindsided and getting yourself hurt." His expression grew more and more frantic with every word he spoke.

"What, because you think I can't handle myself in the situation? Damon, I got along with this problem just fine before you, and I can do this now." Hanna said determinedly as she looked him dead on in the eye. She could handle this situation just fine, and already had enough self doubt for both of them.

Damon began to grow frustrated at her dismissal of his words. "I know you can Hanna, but dammit, will you listen for just one second?" His temper showed slightly as he waved his hands in an exasperated manner.

"What, Damon, listen to what? More about my complete lack of ability to handle myself?" Hanna, on the other hand, was getting slightly ticked with the undertone of his speech.

"Ugh!" Damon let out a grunt of frustration. "You are not getting this."

"Getting what, Damon?" Hanna now feeling his exasperation, moved closer to him with a quizzical expression.

"Fine. You want me to say it? I'll go ahead." Damon sighed before he continued. "I can't lose you Hanna. I've lost so many people in my life, more than you'll ever know, and you are the one thing that is keeping me going right now. I need you, because I am going to completely fall apart without you. You're in my head every second of the day, and the only times I'm living for right now are the ones I get to spend with you. You are the highest and the only priority in my life right now, because you've somehow been brave enough to stick by me, and not just see me for the monster that I am, so no, I'm not going to stand on the sidelines and let the girl I -"

He stopped suddenly, unable to speak the words yet he knew he was starting to feel. It just wasn't the right timing. This wasn't how he imagined it. Then again, none of this was. "The girl I care so much about, to just flounce into battle with some monster completely unprotected. It's not that I don't believe in you, Hanna, I will always believe in you. You have more strength than a dozen vampires put together. It's that I'm terrified of whatever is on the other side of that -A mask. I'm allowed to be worried, and I'm allowed to be protective, because I can't lose you. Not you, Hanna, you mean too much to me." He moved closer and closer to her as he spoke, unable to fully process his words as he said them, and just speaking straight from his gut. He was lost in her perfect blue eyes, and couldn't get himself to look away.

Hanna let a small smirk spread upon her lips before she leaned up towards him to place a passionate and sympathetic kiss on his lips. "Look who's a romantic sap after all." She laughed, whispering as she broke the kiss. "You'll never lose me, Damon. I will always be here for you. Always."

* * *

Caroline tried her hardest to sneak out of the house, and she managed to get past her mother, only to find her sister, Hanna, staring at her face to face. Caroline had made up some dumb excuse of going over to Elena's for the night, but Hanna could see right through it in a second. But, since neither of them particularly approved of the other's significant man in their life, she let her sister slide past.

So, here Caroline was now, lying in bed next to Klaus the next morning. She had just woken up to the sounds of him stirring next to her, and he lazily flopped an arm over her body protectively, still half asleep.

"Morning, my love." Klaus murmured in a groggy voice and a half smile as he kissed her back. He kissed her again and again, slowly waking up more as he did so, loving the giggles it was producing from her.

"Stop! Klaus, it tickles." Caroline squirmed with a giant grin, turning to face him and giving him a good morning kiss on the lips to stop his incessant tiny pecks that tickled her whole body. "Good morning."

"You have no idea how incandescently happy I am to have you waking up next to me." Klaus reached out to touch her cheek, sweeping a fly away hair to tuck behind her ear. She was always radiant in his eyes, her blonde hair perfectly askew, the way her body fit into his oversized shirt that was now his favorite because it always smelled just like her. He realized in this moment, he had probably never been quite so happy in his very extended life. She was changing him, for the better.

Caroline snuggled against his chest as he lay back into the pillows, their rhythm of breathing in sync. "Let's run away." She whispered, falling slightly back into a slumber induced state.

"Where shall we go love?" He pulled her closer to him in a protective embrace. "The world is ours. Rome? London? Paris? Paris this time of year would be particularly lovely, I'd imagine."

"Yes, let's go to Paris. Right now." Caroline demanded, touching a finger determinedly to his chest, even more half asleep than before. Klaus was one of the only ones who knew her secret of being a vampire like he was. It was just after he first moved to town, and he was one of the only people there to help her during her transition to her new life. Then, he left her, out of the blue, but she chalked it up to her own stubbornness to let him into her life, and his nerves to actually achieving that goal. She had been foolish then, but now... all she could see is an endless, wonderful future ahead of them. "Let's eat macaroons on a balcony, and drink champagne, and kiss on the eiffel tower." She laughed with girlish charm and fantasy, partially joking as she spoke. "The simple things in life."

"Now _that_ , sounds like heaven." Klaus whispered in her ear. "One day I will take you love, and we will do exactly that." He kissed her on her forehead, and they slept away the rest of their lazy Sunday morning, in one another's arms.


	33. 1:30 - Finale Pt 1 - If You Leave

**1.30 - Finale Pt.1 - If You Leave**

"So how many school dances have you been to exactly?" Aria said with a small laugh. As she and Stefan began to sway to a familiar 80's slow song that was now playing over the loudspeakers, Aria couldn't even focus on the -A drama with her seemingly perfect boyfriend standing in front of her.

 _I touch you once, I touch you twice_

 _I won't let go at any price_

 _I need you now like I need you then_

 _You always said we'd still be friends someday_

"Hm," Stefan replied, squinting one of his eyes in a joking manner as if he were trying to calculate the decades worth of dances that he had gone to, "Too many to probably count," he continued, letting out a similar laugh that matched Aria's. "This is definitely the best one I've ever been to."

Aria looked down shyly and then back at up at Stefan, "Why thank you, Mr. Fitzgerald," Aria said, referring to her and Stefan's 1920's costumes, a tribute to their mutual Gatsby obsession.

"Now they were wild party-goers...er... or maybe just Zelda." Stefan smiled, lifting his head up as he recollected that specific memory, "though, you're not as crazy as Zelda ever was."

Aria's eyes widened, "Are you serious? You actually met them?"

Stefan nodded his head in a modest fashion and laughed again. As the music began to pick up slightly, he spun Aria around, her beaded, short flapper dress twirled continuously, the light reflecting upon every single golden jewel on her dress.

 _I'll touch you once, I'll touch you twice_

 _I won't let go at any price_

 _I need you now like I need you then_

 _You always said we'd meet again_

As Aria leaned her cheek on Stefan's shoulder, lost in his embrace, her eyes suddenly widened as she watched Spencer and Hanna exchange secretive glances across the room. Suddenly, she remembered that all of this had to come to a halt.

Lifting her head up, Stefan felt Aria's sudden anxious behavior and looked down towards her with a serious, concerned expression, "You're okay with all of this?"

Although Aria tried to put on a brave expression, she could only worry about the possibility of losing Hanna, all of her friends, Damon and Stefan if their -A plan wouldn't work out, "No. I just don't want to lose you, Stefan. I can't lose you."

As the music continued to play, Stefan and Aria stood still. Removing his mask and then Aria's, he stared directly at her, "Aria. I promise you. I'm not going anywhere. I can't lose you either. Since the first day of school, you've become a constant within my life and I don't know what I would do without you."

Even though Aria felt a slight doubt within his words, he couldn't actually promise or predict what Klaus, Katherine or -A would do to him, she could only go by Stefan's word, and she knew she could always trust Stefan's word.

"Just hold me, please." Aria whispered as she placed her head on Stefan's shoulder. Fighting back tears as she tried to stop herself from imagining the worst possible scenarios that could happen within the next few minutes.

As Stefan looked down at Aria, he kissed the top of her head lightly and rested his chin and cheek tenderly on Aria's head. He had to stay alive at all cost. He would protect Aria with everything that he had within him and neither Katherine nor Klaus would continue to wreck and disrupt their lives.

* * *

"So you think you could sneak away for one dance?" Elena whispered mischievously, as she stood to Ezra's side and gently touched his hand.

Ezra looked down and then crossed his arms, "I think that as a chaperone, it would look sort of suspicious and probably not a good idea," he replied, nervously.

Elena laughed, thinking that he was just teasing her, "Oh come on, it's not like anyone can see us. It's a masquerade after all."

Ezra looked over each shoulder and took Elena by the hand as he lead her through one of the exit doors towards a completely deserted corridor. Taking Elena by the hand, they both began to sway back and forth to the distant music, "Can we call this a compromise, then?" he whispered as he moved his hand to the lower part of Elena's back.

"Well it's not quite what I had in mind," Elena replied as she moved her head to look directly into Ezra's eyes, "but as long as I'm with you, I'm fine," she laughed.

"Elena, we need to talk about something." Ezra muttered through a serious expression.

"Um, that doesn't sound good," she said as she moved her head to the side in a puzzled manner.

"I can't do this anymore, Elena. This isn't fair to you anymore." Ezra replied, as he dropped Elena's hands in complete defeat.

"What're you talking about?" Elena said through a forceful whisper, "I thought things were fine with us? Why're you doing this?"

"I've been thinking about this for some time actually." Ezra muttered, "and what future could we possibly have? I'm your teacher, Elena. How long do we have to keep deluding ourselves into thinking that this relationship could have a happy ending?"

As he began to turn away, Elena grabbed Ezra by the hand, "Because I love you, Ezra. That's our future. I don't care that you're my teacher, you're still that same guy that I met in the bookshop at the beginning of the year. That's all that matters to me," Elena yelled back, frustratingly fighting back tears.

All of a sudden, as she looked back into Ezra's eyes, she stopped and pulled Ezra close to her. As she studied his vacant expression, she could tell that he had been compelled. Taking him by the arm, Elena ran Ezra down the school hallway, she had to find the person who was responsible for this and put an end to her once and for all, "Katherine..." Elena sneered maliciously under her breath.

* * *

"Hello, Caroline," Klaus whispered, "You look absolutely ravishing."

Donned in a long, blue,Cinderella-esque dress, Caroline turned around abruptly and then smiled cheekily back at Klaus, "You don't look so bad yourself. So are you supposed to be my Prince Charming?"

Klaus took Caroline's hand and gently kissed it, "Would you like me to be?"

"Hm, I'd say you're a little to dark to be the conventional Prince Charming, but I guess you'll have to do." Caroline replied, as she tried to contain her giddiness in front of Klaus.

"Well, I'll gladly fulfill any role that you desire me to." Klaus muttered back in his usual snarky, deep, yet romantic tone.

"I'm glad to hear that." Caroline spoke back, her face was now almost pressed against Klaus', "So how are you going to stay hidden away from everyone again?"

"Don't fret, love." Klaus whispered, "I have everything taken care of, right now though, I just want to be with you."

Placing her satin-gloved hand on Klaus' scruffy face, she kissed him. After years of their push-pull, contentious relationship, she couldn't imagine being with anyone else except for Klaus.

Reluctantly pulling her head away from Klaus, she held her head against his as they both stared intensely within each other's eyes, "I have to go say hi to a few friends, I'll see you soon, okay?"

Klaus smiled, "Anything for you, Caroline," he replied, as he pulled himself away and began to walk down the long, dark, school corridor.

* * *

Emily stumbled through one of the exit doors and tried to find her way through the darkened school hallway: she knew that she had been drinking a little too much from Jeremy's secret flask. Placing the palm of her hand on her forehead, Emily leaned against one of the lockers and tried to wait until her head stopped spinning.

All of a sudden, she felt a gust of wind rush by her. As Emily looked down both ends of the hallway, she squinted to try to see any sort of figure that could've caused that quick, brisk motion.

Looking down at her shoes, Emily felt someone's face standing close to hers.

"Hello, Emily." Katherine whispered in a menacing tone.

Suddenly, before Emily could try to either yell or run away, Katherine grabbed Emily and pinned her against the wall, "We've been expecting you."

As Emily squirmed underneath Katherine's vice grip, Klaus appeared from the dark shadows of the school hallway, "I'll take it from here, Katherine." Klaus spoke, as he moved closer and closer to Emily, Emily's body froze and her mind went completely blank, she could feel her mind trying to scream for help but the words weren't coming out of her mouth.

Gallantly carrying an unconscious Emily to a nearby classroom, he and Katherine both awaited for the other Liars to appear so that they could lock them in the classroom and force the Fields Witch to perform a type of locator spell so that they could become one step closer to finding the cure and destroying Rosewood Falls.

* * *

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us for our first dance, are you having fun tonight?" The DJ yelled out at the crowd over the loudspeaker, and was greeted with a giant cheer from the auditorium filled with kids.

Alison stared at Matt, dancing in front of her as the perfect Romeo to her Juliet, their costumes complete with carved Italian masks, mostly to hide her and Hanna's face's once the plan was put into action. She had made up her mind, and knew what she had to do, but couldn't quite bring herself to do it. She had to let him go, it wasn't safe for Matt to be around her anymore. Not after what Katherine had done to him, she needed to protect him, she just felt too much for him, and Alison could never live with herself if something happened to him that she knew she was responsible for.

She locked eyes with Matt, tears slowly starting to fall down her cheek as she spoke softly, "You never met me before tonight, this is our first, and last dance. We never knew one another. I need you to forget everything about me up until this very moment." She stopped her compulsion with a choked sob before she broke out of his arms for the last time, disappearing into the crowd. Matt stood there, pleasantly enjoying the music, unable to remember who was in his arms just moments before.


	34. 1:31 - Finale Pt 2 - A Night to Remembe

**1.31 - Finale Pt. 2 - A Night to Remember**

"Guess it's time to get back out there." Alison shrugged to Hanna and Damon as she left the small classroom off the auditorium, dressed in Hanna's Marilyn Monroe costume, leaving Damon dressed as a 1950's greaser all by his lonesome. He liked to think it was an homage to early Elvis.

"Will you zip me up?" Hanna asked Damon, now that the two of them were alone. She was dressed head to toe in Alison's Juliet costume now, all she needed was the mask to keep her identity a secret. If this plan was going to work, no one could know it was her.

Damon moved towards her, and looked her straight in the eye, "Only if you promise you'll be careful, Hanna. Please don't do anything stupid, for me?"

Hanna laughed, trying to fight the insane nerves that had nestled in the pit of her stomach. "Me? Something stupid? Never." She kissed him lightly before turning around, waiting for him to zip her into the dress.

* * *

Hanna made her way out onto the dance floor, searching for a now familiar black or red masked figure. Or, at least something slightly out of the ordinary. Suddenly, she saw exactly what she was looking for. A person in a strange mask, that was significantly odder than the others, stood in the outskirts of the crowd, wearing a long black cloak covering head to toe. -A clearly caught sight of her, and slowly began to make their way to the entrance to the tunnels, just as Spencer had predicted. What she hadn't predicted was -A spotting Damon following protectively close behind Hanna. There was only one blonde Damon cared that closely about, and that was Hanna, not Alison.

Suddenly, A took off in a sprint once reaching the entrance to the underground tunnels. Hanna followed closely in pursuit, though she was fairly sure she lost Damon somewhere along the way. The tunnels were becoming darker and darker as she went on, with a faint musty smell and unpleasantly erie feeling. They weaved in and out, over and under one another, becoming a confusing maze of passageways. Hanna was hot on -A's tail, but in a flash of a moment, she heard the footsteps in front of her stop. It was as if -A had disappeared completely. Pulling out her phone, she dialed each one of her friends frantically, grunting in frustration as they all went to voicemail. She was trying her hardest not to panic, but the darkness seemed to be closing in on her from all sides.

* * *

Three loud crashes awoke Emily from her deep, unconscious state. To her surprise, through her blurred vision, she could see the outline of Bonnie, whose eyes had gone completely white as if they were about to roll back into her head. She was now standing over her and mumbling some weird semi-Latin, ancient phrases.

 _"Per se qui e fracta toi, per se qui e total toi."_

Within minutes, the entire classroom slowly began to encircle in flames and Bonnie quickly grabbed Emily's hand and ran out of the door.

When they were more than half way down a desolated school hallway, Emily shouted to Bonnie, "What did you just do?!"

Without looking at Emily, Bonnie screamed back, "I trapped them using a fire spell, Em. But we have to hurry and get out of here because I don't know how long that's going to hold them."

Emily stopped moving, "No! We have to find my friends! -A is after them! We need to find them, Bonnie!" she yelled, her voice began to tremble. Emily didn't know if she should be afraid or angry that Bonnie would just abandon all of their loved ones with out any sort of hesitation.

Bonnie glared at Emily, annoyed that she was not taking their near-death situation seriously enough, but then took her hand and smiled comfortably at the girl who she was once, and still, loved. "I'll come back for your friends, Em, but Klaus and Katherine are after you. They want to access your hidden powers and I can't let that happen. I need to protect you, Em."

Another loud crash from the burning classroom echoed through the hallway, as the red glow began to hurl towards them, Bonnie grabbed Emily's face and kissed her passionately. Emily's hand touched Bonnie's face, she'd been imagining this moment ever since Bonnie left and all she could think about was how she would never let her go again.

"Em! What're you doing?!" Jeremy shouted, as he, Aria, Spencer, Tyler, and Mona ran up towards Emily and Bonnie in a complete frenzy.

Emily and Bonnie both spun their heads around to look at Jeremy. Emily's widened eyes expressed a feeling of both complete terror and embarrassment. She could feel the hurt behind Jeremy's eyes as he stood frozen in front of both of these two girls, trying to put on a brave face in front of the rest of her friends.

"Jer- I..." Emily began to yell back.

However, Jeremy turned towards the rest of the girls and screamed, "I'll get Emily to safety. You guys take Bonnie and try to track down Klaus, Katherine, -A. Just get out of here, guys, the fire's getting close!"

Jeremy took the still feeble Emily by her shoulders and began to lead her back down the darkened hallway, he needed to protect Emily at all cost. He just didn't know who she needed protecting from more now: Bonnie or -A?

* * *

Klaus and Katherine escaped their fiery prison and set off in search of the girls, but they were no where to be found. "Check and see if they've gone after Emily already." He ordered Katherine who took off with a nod. Stefan, spotting the two, followed Katherine's trail in hot pursuit. Klaus' phone buzzed in his pocket, and he swiftly answered it. Before he had time to greet his partner, they spoke in a disguised, gravely tone.

"Plans have changed, Klaus. Follow the tunnels and find Alison. She is no longer of any use to us. It's time for her to die." The phone went dead with no words spoken on his part. He knew the plan was far too late into action to go back now, and the cost of not following orders was too great. He stalked his way towards the underground tunnels to find the blonde, and end her.

Following noises of a faint voice in the distance, he made his way through the dismal maze beneath Rosewood Falls. There was hardly any sunlight peaking through here, but there was just enough to see a shimmer of Blonde hair in front of him. He wasted no time, and pinned the blonde against the wall. "Sorry, love, it's been fun." He pulled out a knife, ready to decapitate Alison, the vampire he had created, but split seconds before the knife hit her skin, Hanna cried out, "Klaus, no!" But it was too late. The blade had cut her skin, but luckily, he stopped himself before continuing. "Hanna?!" He screamed in confusion, not comprehending the identity switch, or the idea that he might have just murdered the sister of the love of his life. He gave a panicked glare to the man he knew was looking on behind him at the scene, and sped off at vampire speed, unable to handle what he had just done.

Damon had been hot on Klaus's trail. He had lost Hanna in the -A scuffle, but when he heard Klaus heading down the tunnels, he was immediately able to catch right up again. However, the scene he saw in front of him was one only played out in his worst nightmares. As Klaus sped off into the night, Hanna slumped on the floor, blood starting to gush from the wound in her neck. Damon barely noticed Klaus' exit. He sped over towards Hanna, catching her in his arms as she fell. "No, no, no." He muttered under his breath, tears starting to well up. He frantically bit his arm and forced it into her mouth, praying his vampire blood would heal her. "Hanna, no, you can't leave me," He cried out as he tilted her head forward, placing his hands on the wound and trying to stop the blood while simultaneously getting her to drink his. "You can't leave me, Hanna." He repeated, biting back tears. _**"I love you."**_

* * *

" _This_ is it?" Vivian looked around the streets of the deserted small town square with a sigh. Everyone was clearly asleep already on a Saturday night, and by her books, that was a very, very bad sign. Although, the fun to be had was of a much different kind, anyway. So, she suspected this was only a slight set back.

"This is it." Rebekah let out a sigh of her own, breathing in the familiar air of Rosewood Falls. It had been years since she had been back home, but now, it was under just the right sort of circumstances. She was ready to finally be back here. And what could possibly be in store ahead of them? She grinned at her friend, and the two headed up the old, beaten path in the dark of the evening towards the looming Mikaelson mansion.

* * *

Aria, Emily, and Spencer rushed out of Rosewood Falls high just as the fire alarms started blaring, and a panic crossed the entire student body. Everyone was evacuated, and Katherine and Klaus seemed to have disappeared into the night. The plan for that evening had definitely failed. The girls, Stefan, Bonnie, Jeremy, Mona, and Tyler, all huddled together, watching the fire trucks speed towards the high school. "You guys, where's Hanna?" Aria asked, suddenly worried at the absence of their friend. As if in answer to her question, a text lit up their phones simultaneously.

 **"Uh oh, looks like I win this round, liars. Wasn't that fun? Hope you're up for another game soon!"**

 **Kisses, -A**


	35. 2 - Part Two

**2 - Part Two**

Hello again, readers, and welcome back to Rosewood Falls. It's about time for us to pick up where we left off. Sadly, things aren't looking too good for the local residents of this small town, but at they're about to get a whole lot more interesting. There's a new Mikaelson in town, with another doppelgänger in tow, which can only mean trouble for the neighborhood. Although Klaus, Katherine, and A's plan was foiled in part by the liars, it looks like they have at least taken one victim in their wake, but what will happen to Hanna? Can Damon save her, or was their romance doomed from the start? Will Caroline ever be able to forgive Klaus for what he did to her sister? Only time will tell. As always, we hope you're enjoying the story, and if you are, please leave us a comment or a like anywhere throughout the book! Now, let's get back to our story...


	36. 2:1 - The Morning After

**2.1 - The Morning After**

Damon could hardly hear the growing sounds of fire engines blaring in the distance, getting closer and closer as the school burned steadily above him. He could hardly care if he burned alive, as long as Hanna was safe. He held her weak body in his arms, ignoring the tears that were lightly streaming down his face, and frantically kept pushing his bleeding wrist into her mouth, hoping at least a few of the drops of blood would make it into her system before it was too late. She was practically unconscious now from the extreme loss of blood, but he was hardly going to give up. "Hanna, please. Drink this. You have to drink this, I can't..." He choked before continuing, "How am I supposed to go on without you?" He propped her head up against his chest, waiting and praying for her wounds to start healing. Any second now. " _Come on_ , Hanna." He whispered to her, wanting to scream in desperation.

Suddenly, right before his eyes, her body started to heal itself. The wound in her neck was slowly resealing, the blood drying up, and her bruises disappearing across her body. Damon could barely contain his excitement. He almost laughed as he fought back tears once more, shaking her body with enthusiasm. "See! I knew you could do it, Han." He exclaimed in an almost frantic manner, shaking her body against him. "I knew you could..." But as he shook her, he noticed a giant, significant difference.

There was no more heartbeat. He limply turned her face towards his, only to realize the cold stare of death was looking right back at him. "Hanna, no..." His voice hardly left his body in fear of what he might have just done. It suddenly dawned on him; her body wasn't healing itself, it was transitioning. _She was becoming a vampire._

* * *

Damon clung to Hanna's lifeless body in his arms as if she was the last person on earth. He burst through the front door of his house, hardly taking an extra breath as he sprinted upstairs, placing her carefully in his bed. It was only a matter of time now until she actually awoke from this lifeless coma, and he knew what that meant. He had only a limited time to save her life, or well, afterlife. He needed to find someone fast for her to feed on, and he needed to find them now. He kissed her forehead before bolting out the door and locking it tightly behind him.

In the deserted night streets it was not going to be easy to find a straggler, but find one he did. Some kid, he hardly cared who, was walking alone after dark, and that was exactly what he needed. He hardly wasted a second in compelling him to follow upstairs to Hanna's room, not wasting a second thought on anything but her. He burst through the door, practically flinging the kid out in front of him as he desperately reached her, only to find her eyes slowly flickering open. He let out a sigh as he rushed to her side, smoothing her hair out as she lay on the bed in front of him. "You're awake." He was almost giddy with excitement and nerves at seeing her functioning again.

Hanna took a deep breath, as she adjusted her vision to the darkness of the room. Blinking a few times, she tried to remember the last few hours. She was in the tunnels. There was A, and Klaus, and blood..."What...what happened?" Suddenly, a rush of energy and thoughts washed through her brain. It was as if a million different little lights had gone off all at once. She felt powerful, awake, and most of all, alive. "Ugh, I'm starving." She enthused, sitting up in her bed, but as soon as she caught sight of the boy standing in the room, she heard a strange sound, unlike any other she had experienced. Thump. Thump. Thump. It was his heartbeat. And suddenly, there was only one thing she wanted. "What is happening?! Damon?" She frantically called out to him, grabbing for his arm next to her.

"You need to drink, Hanna. Now." He brought the boy to her, presenting his arm for her to feed on. If she didn't feed, she would die. That was the simple fact, and Damon wasn't about to get this far and lose her now.

Hanna stared at him horrified and dumbstruck. "What? Damon, I cannot do that!" She shook her head in desperation, though the more she stared at the beating veins in front of her, she could hardly help herself.

Damon forced the boy's arm at her, knowing fully she couldn't resist much longer. Vampires in transition were practically uncontrollable, and he knew she would be no exception. "Hanna! You need to drink! Stop being stubborn, I'm saving your life."

* * *

Hanna had been sleeping for hours now, but he had stayed firmly by her side, pushing himself to stay awake to watch over her. There was no way he was letting anything touch her now in her fragile state. He tiptoed out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him. He flipped out his cell phone, and hesitantly dialed a number, gritting his teeth as he did so. This was not going to be a good call, and he didn't exactly have any idea how to do this.

"What the hell do you want?" Caroline Marin's clearly annoyed voice came blurting through his phone. "It's like 3 in the morning Damon, where is my sister?"

"She's with me." Damon tried his best to keep his voice calm. "Caroline..." he began, but to no avail.

"I thought I told you to stay away from her, Damon?" Caroline interrupted, obviously still irritated at him.

"Caroline..." Damon continued, waiting for her to stop her incessant talking.

"You are like a trouble magnet, and that is literally the last thing we need more of, okay? I mean what are you even thinking?"

"Caroline!" Damon wanted to scream at her, but had to resort to a hissed shout to not wake up Hanna. "You need to come over here, right now. Hanna's been in an accident."

"What?! What did you do?" Caroline's voice suddenly took on an angry, worried tone.

"What did I do?! I just _saved her life_." Damon hissed at her, unable to handle any sort of unpleasantries after the traumatic evening of almost losing the girl he...the girl he _loved_. "Get over here, now. And prepare yourself." He hung up immediately, rushing back inside to Hanna.


	37. 2:2 - New Triangles

**2.2 - New Triangles**

Flashback: Halloween Dance

"Katherine!" Elena yelled, her voice echoed throughout the massive school hallway. With a hypnotized Ezra in tow, Elena was determined to get to the bottom of her evil vampire doppelgänger's sudden appearance in Rosewood Falls once and for all.

As Katherine turned her head to face Elena, she smiled coyly at her inferior twin, "Well hello, Elena. Enjoying your little dance so far?" Katherine sped towards Elena and Ezra at vampire speed until she was face to face with her adversaries. "Oh, wait. Poor Ezra, so cute, so handsome." Katherine sneered as she lifted her hand to gently caress Ezra's cheek.

Without thinking, Elena slapped Katherine's hand away from Ezra's face, "Don't you dare come near him! I know you're here because of me so leave him out of any plans that you or Klaus are planning right now so-"

Rolling her eyes, Katherine cut Elena off and slammed her against a nearby cluster of lockers, "Oh Elena, when will you realize that not everything is about you?" she spoke through gritted teeth.

"Then what do you want," Elena muttered as she attempted to gasp for breath, "I'll do anything Katherine, just let Ezra go."

Glancing back towards an unconscious Ezra, Katherine's face began to soften as she looked deeper and deeper into his gorgeous brown eyes. She felt the same, electric twinge in her ice-cold heart that she had felt when she first met Ezra, and for some reason, she didn't want to let that feeling go.

Shaking her head, she looked back at a struggling Elena, "Okay, deal. But, you have to do me a little favor first."

Elena stared at Katherine with a puzzled look, she hadn't expected Katherine to give in to her proposition so quickly, "What do you want then?"

"You," Katherine replied through her usual hushed, sinister tone and smile. Gleefully watching a defenseless Elena squirm underneath her vice grip, Katherine had a pleasing thought pop into her head: Maybe she was finally going to live out her "happy ending" after all.

* * *

Present Day:

"So I'll meet you at 5 at your place then?" Elena whispered, as she stood face-to-face with Ezra in one of the corners of the Rear Window Cafe, away from any prying student or teacher ears. After a few months of dating, they had gotten a routine down to scheduling their secret dates.

"Yeah I should be out of my meeting by then," Ezra said as he began to reach for Elena's hand whilst cautiously looking over each one of their shoulders.

Elena smiled at Ezra's subtle, adorable action and gently grabbed his hand, "Ezra, it's fine. No one's watching us." Elena began to pull herself closer to Ezra and without thinking, Ezra seemed to oblige to Elena's movements despite this very public location.

Shaking his head, Ezra smiled and whispered in Elena's ear, "I'll see you later tonight."

Elena smiled flirtatiously back at Ezra, turned her head and kissed his cheek lightly, "Can't wait."

Squeezing her hand slightly, Ezra blushed and turned around, carrying his take-away coffee as he exited the coffee shop.

Watching him leave, Katherine Pierce waited until Ezra was completely out of sight before her "Elena-esque" smile dropped from her face, "Ugh, I don't know how much longer I can keep this innocent act up," she muttered to herself. However, as she remembered Ezra's sweet, innocent expression, she couldn't help but resist that 'heart skipping' feeling that she only had once felt around Stefan and Damon.

Taking her shiny, gold compact mirror out of her purse, Katherine checked her makeup and began to primp her hair, "Goodbye Elena, Ezra's all mine. For now...," she whispered: Elena Gilbert was history.

* * *

Waking up from her groggy state, Elena sat in a modern-looking apartment, her hands tied behind her back with duct-tape covering her mouth. Through blurred vision, she could see two dainty, stiletto heels standing in front of her which, undoubtedly, belonged to Katherine Pierce.

Kneeling down to looked at her captured prey, Katherine cocked her head slightly to examine Elena's captive face, "Have a good day, dear?" she whispered as she violently ripped the tape from her mouth.

"Please, just tell me what you want Katherine," Elena spoke through gritted teeth.

Katherine continued to smile at Elena, "Sweet, dumb Elena." she cooed, "What does Ezra even see in you?"

As she stood up and walked towards her apartment kitchen to pour herself a glass of wine, Elena lay completely defeated and defenseless on the floor.

"At least I have someone who loves me," Elena muttered, rolling her eyes at Katherine's passing "Ezra" remark.

Suddenly, hearing this offensive statement, Katherine sprinted towards Elena and clutched her throat, "Okay, miss Elena. You want to know what's going on here? Why I'm in Rosewood Falls?"

Holding Elena in mid-air, without any hesitation, Katherine smiled at Elena's pain, "I'm here to steal your man. Clear enough for you? And maybe other things that I'm not ready to tell you or any of your little friends yet. So that's why you need to stay out of my way."

Dropping Elena on the floor, her head and shoulders slammed against Katherine's apartment's shiny hardwood floors. At this point, Elena was actually far too weak to fight back and attempt to find a way to free herself from her present imprisonment anymore.

Gliding to her kitchen counter, Katherine gulped down the glass of red wine that she had just poured herself, grabbed her purse off the kitchen counter and opened her front door, "Well gotta go. I have a date." She smiled, giving one last look at the trapped Elena. She couldn't help but relish in the glorious feeling that she had finally won everything in Elena's life that she had occasionally admired, and wished she had, if she were still a human being.


	38. 2:3 - One Week Later

**2.3 - One Week Later**

Katherine Pierce sat at the back of the grill, tapping her fingers nervously across the hard wood of the table. She had already taken the precaution of compelling almost everyone she could possibly get her hands on in the restaurant to make them forget they saw her, or Ezra, who should have been arriving any second now. Yes, it was Elena and Ezra's usual meet up spot for date night, thanks to Elena's doting friend Matt Donovan, but Katherine wasn't taking any chances in case this stunt she was pulling didn't go perfectly as planned. But, of course, it was going to, she was Katherine Pierce, after all.

Her smile lit up in a beam as she saw the handsome brunette man strolling through the grill, his smile almost equal to her own. Well, this innocent act wasn't actually that difficult to play around him after all, it was almost as if it came naturally. There was a certain feeling and attraction she had to Ezra unlike any she'd quite ever experienced before. The way his hair just fell perfectly across his brow, the butterflies in her stomach, and not to mention the slightly tingly, nervous feeling she hardly tried to combat when she was near him. It was like her feelings for the Salvatore brothers on steroids, and just like a drug, she couldn't get enough of it.

"Wow." Ezra stopped for a second to look who he thought was Elena up and down. "Can I just take a second to say how absolutely stunning you look tonight? Seriously, Elena, you've outdone yourself." He gave her his usual giant hug, kissing her on the forehead.

Katherine couldn't help but smirk at his words. She was prettier than Elena after all. "You really think so? This old thing?" She twirled in front of him as he let her go, trying to put on her best Elena impression, something she had gotten quite good at by now. "Well, you're not too bad yourself." She nudged him as she picked up a dart off the nearby board. "So, you ready for a challenge."

"Okay but watch out,"Ezra playfully nudged her back, grabbing a dart to join in the game. "Because you might not know this, but by some standards, I am a darts champion."

"Oh wow! Well, I didn't realize I was in the presence of a gold medalist." Katherine teased, giving him a wink, trying to ease in just a touch of her own personality without overwhelming him. After all, who was Katherine Pierce without a little sass?

* * *

Vivian rolled her eyes with complete and utter boredom as she threw herself onto the couch. "Rebekah, I have to do something, please." She muttered from under her breath as she sighed and sunk further into the cushions. "I'm about to waste away from boredom. Isn't there any fun to be had in this town? Come on, let's go cause some trouble, like the old days."

"I've told you this a million times, Vivian." Rebekah replied sweetly to her friend, though her words were bitter. "We have to wait for Niklaus. He is our key to the cure at this point since only this -A person or whoever knows the location. We use him, and that bratty Katherine girl, and we're golden." She relaxed herself in the nearby armchair, narrowing her eyes in disinterest at her nails, inspecting for any chips.

"It's a good thing that Katherine is along with his plan. She shouldn't be too hard to manipulate. I met her once in Miami, she's a silly little thing." Vivian scoffed. "So you're positive Elijah isn't here this afternoon? I haven't quite prepared my perfect entrance for him yet. It's just got to be devastating."

"No, my ever constant brother is over at his little new girlfriend's place, I think." But the words had hardly left her mouth before Rebekah wanted to kick herself. She had sworn she wasn't going to mention that little detail to Vivian.

"What, Elijah has a girlfriend now? How quaint." Vivian spat, making the word sound like something far worse. "I suppose he spent too many centuries pining for his lost love that he finally got bored with the whole ordeal?!" Her words rose with anger lacing her tone of voice. "Well, I guess we'll just have to work them into our plan somehow, now won't we? Maybe it is time I paid them a little visit. I am quite desperate for fun after all, and that might just fit the bill perfectly."

* * *

"I just can't wait Elena." Ezra began with a sigh, staring into her eyes with a half smile. He and Elena, or actually Katherine, had finished their game, and sat side by side on a bench nearby. "Soon, we'll be out of here," He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer to him, "And you can go off to college wherever you want, because you'll get in of course, and I'll follow you wherever you choose, and we can finally be together."

Katherine nodded, getting lost in his sweet, simple words and his puppy-like brown eyes, and just for a second, she forgot who she was. That was the life she wanted, the dream she had, and there was no way in hell Elena Gilbert was taking that away from her. And then, Ezra leaned in and kissed her.

It was the perfect kiss. Just a sweet, simple kiss. His lips were so soft, and so much warmer than a vampire's, and just so filled with a love for her that she couldn't help but lean into him. For just a few minutes, she was no longer her cold, calculating, vampire self, she was just a girl, falling hopelessly and desperately in love with this man.


	39. 2:4 - Just A Kiss

**2.4 - Just A Kiss**

"Hey, Jer- picked up some of your favorites after swim practice today," Emily said through a forced cheerful tone as she walked up behind Jeremy, who was now sitting on a park bench reading a book, with an armful of greasy fast food delivery bags. It had been a week since she had last spoken to Jeremy. A week since Bonnie had come back into town, kissed her and ruined her relationship with Jeremy, probably for good.

Jeremy looked up begrudgingly from his textbook. He hadn't figured out a time to talk to Emily about the kiss. He just couldn't shake the feeling of seeing the two of them, Bonnie and Emily, together like that every time that he looked at Emily. Sure, he knew what he was getting himself into when he decided to start dating her, but he couldn't help but feel a tiny bit selfish. Bonnie left Emily. She doesn't get to be the one to keep her for herself and then just leave when it is convenient for her, making Jeremy the one to take care of an upset Emily.

"What's this?" Jeremy muttered in a monotone voice, barely looking up from his 'fake reading.'

"Come on, Jeremy." Emily replied as she took her hand and moved the book downwards and away from Jeremy's face, "You expect me to believe that you care about school work all of a sudden now? Please, just talk to me. We can always talk to each other about anything you and I - I..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Jeremy stood up and started to walk away from Emily angrily, but then stopped in his tracks and turned around to face her, "What do you want to talk about, Em? You like Bonnie. Bonnie's back in town. So just _be with her_! I have nothing else to say to you!"

Dropping the bags of food on the ground, Emily's eyes widened as she ran after Jeremy, "Do you think this is easy for me? I didn't ask for Bonnie to kiss me! I didn't ask her to come back to Rosewood Falls! I came to the dance solely because you asked me out and I wanted to go with you, Jeremy! I still like you, a lot actually, and now everything's messed up and I don't know what to do. You knew all about this, Jere. You knew what you were getting yourself into!"

Jeremy rolled his eyes, "You're right, Em, I did know what I was getting myself into. I just don't know what you want anymore. Do you want to be with me or Bonnie? Because I don't want to get stuck in the middle of you two anymore. I'm not going to be your second choice, Em. I'm just not, okay?"

Emily began to frustratingly choke back her tears, "I don't ... know... I don't know... what I want anymore!"

Biting his lip slightly, Jeremy couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt after looking at Emily's distressed face. He could tell that this whole situation was going to be hard on her but he had to do what felt right for him at this moment.

Walking towards a crying Emily, Jeremy looked directly into her eyes, "Well call or come talk to me when you do figure it out, okay Em?" he said with a serious expression on his face.

Emily nodded. She couldn't even think of anything to say back to Jeremy. No comforting or reassuring words. Suddenly, reaching out towards Jeremy, she pulled him close and hugged him tightly to her, she didn't need a boyfriend at that moment, she needed a friend.

For a split second, Jeremy let himself be that person for her at that moment, but then pulled away about a second later, "I'll see you around, Emily," he whispered and walked away.

* * *

"Hurry up, Lockwood! Before someone sees us." Mona whispered in her usual bossy tone of voice as they approached the front door of her house. This was only the third "secret" date that they had this week and she was determined to keep it that way considering how quickly news traveled in a small town like Rosewood Falls. She didn't know what her friends or the people at school would think about her dating the class d-bag, rich boy Tyler Lockwood. However, after seeing him in action at the Halloween Dance, something had come over Mona. She couldn't help but marvel over Tyler's fearlessness and bravery and how, despite his snarky, hard exterior, he would do anything for his friends, just like Mona.

"Oh, forgot how much I like a woman in charge," Tyler mumbled back as he raised his eyebrows at Mona's commanding presence.

"Well you better get used to it. I'm not like one of your usual bimbos that are always drooling over you in class." Mona snapped back in a semi-flirtatious, threatening tone.

"Hm, jealous much, Vanderwaal?" Tyler sneered, as he touched the bottom of her back lightly as they made their way up Mona's front porch steps.

Mona turned around, "Now you know me better than that, Tyler." Mona replied with a mischievous grin on her face that almost matched Tyler's, she couldn't help but to feel a fluttering sensation in her stomach every time she looked at his cheeky expression.

"I think I'm beginning to figure you out even more," Tyler whispered as he motioned towards Mona's hands, as he looked into her deep brown eyes, he tried to fight the urge to kiss her right there and then, "I had a fun time with you tonight though."

Highly perceptive of her surroundings, Mona looked down at his hands and smiled, "Not to make this too much of a corny moment, but I did too," she replied as she lightly held on to both of Tyler's hands, "I have to say, these dates have been going surprisingly well."

Tyler smirked, "So were allowed to call these dates now? Wow, guess we're moving past 'first base' then."

Mona rolled her eyes, "Oh shut it, Lockwood, you know what I mean." She muttered back as she took one of her hands and playfully shoved him aback, "I mean, you've definitely exceeded my expectations."

"Hm, glad I've surpassed the Vanderwaal high level of approval then," Tyler whispered as he let out a small laugh and moved his face closer to Mona's, "Do I get some sort of prize now or something?"

Mona looked back up at Tyler, "I think you can probably guess," she whispered back to him. As both of their intense brown eyes matched one another, they froze. Although neither of them could read each other's minds, they both felt the same fluttering sensations in their stomachs as they stared into each other's eyes. Without thinking, Tyler leaned in and kissed Mona. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Mona could feel herself falling wholeheartedly for Tyler's advances. After years of endless masked flirtatious taunting, neither of them could believe that they were standing in this very position today. It may sound cheesy, but, it looked as if they had finally found each other's matches.

Pulling herself away, Mona and Tyler kept their foreheads together, Tyler's arms around Mona's small waist and Mona's arms latched around Tyler's neck, "See you back at the salt mines tomorrow then, Lockwood?" she said as she began to turn away.

Tyler held on to Mona's hand and smiled, "As long as I'm with you then I'm good." he replied.

Looking back towards Tyler, Mona smiled back, not a snarky smile, but an actual, genuine smile. Closing the door behind her, she bit her lip and looked up at the ceiling like a teenage schoolgirl. This was it, she couldn't believe it, she was falling for Tyler. Big time.


	40. 2:5 – Unforgivable

**2.5 – Unforgivable**

Caroline stood in silence in her room as she waited for Klaus to say something. But, it seemed to Klaus as if his words could hardly form in his mouth. What was there to say? He had killed her sister. Killed her. She would never be the same again, but thank goodness for his sake that Damon was there to turn her, otherwise he was fairly sure he could never live with himself. It wasn't that he really cared much about Hanna, truthfully, but he cared about anything that could hurt Caroline in any way. She was the love of his life, and he wasn't about to let that go. But, somehow all he could manage was a half hearted, "I'm sorry, Caroline."

Caroline scoffed in a mixture of anger and complete heartbreak. "You're _sorry_? Seriously, Klaus? You're sorry for _murdering_ my sister?" She shook her head in disbelief.

Klaus paused, "Please love, just let me finish."

But she wasn't about to let him. The emotions were building inside her as she bulldozed over his words. "You don't even deserve me to be speaking with you right now, Klaus, let alone letting you finish."

"Caroline, I know I can never make up for what I did, but please, just let me explain..." Klaus began to panic in desperation, unable to come to terms with losing her.

"Explain what? What is there to explain? I gave you a second chance. Everyone warned me to stay away from you, and this is what happens? Definitely not what I expected, I'll give you that." Caroline's emotional limit finally hit as tears started to flow while she yelled back at him.

"Caroline, I was set up! I never would have done such a thing to Hanna, I thought she was...someone else."

"And that makes it okay? I never want to see your face again Klaus, ever, do you hear me?" The tears were flowing faster now as she shuffled frantically on her desk, gathering all the drawings he had given her. "And you can take back your stupid drawings, and your presents, and you can leave, now!"

Klaus took a step towards her, finding the sight of her tears unbearable, and even more upset that he was the cause. "Caroline..."

Ironically, all she wanted to do right now was hug him and cry on is shoulder, and for a second, she did just that. She crumpled into his chest and he caught her in his arms, comforting her in an embrace while kissing her forehead. She shook her head, quickly realizing what was happening, and snapped back into herself. "No! No, I can't, please, just go."

* * *

Damon brushed a stray hair out of Hanna's face, his expression a mixture of concern, and complete content at having the blonde sleeping soundly next to him. It had been a few days since the incident now, and she hadn't done much except sleep. He didn't blame her, it had been a rough transition, and she'd taken it a little differently than most new vampires did. She was quiet, solemn, and sad. Her emotions seemed to branch to the other side of the usual spectrum. He had only gotten her out of bed to feed, using blood bags he kept in the cellar for special cases.

In a brief movement, her eyes fluttered open, barely awake, she turned towards him, blinking from the light shining softly through the window shades. He smiled down at her as he leaned over, cupping her head in his hands. Without warning, she pulled in closer towards him bringing him into a passionate kiss that quickly turned frantic. His arm moved down towards the small of her back as he leaned more on top of her, their lips hardly leaving one another's. She pulled away slightly after the kiss slowed down, looking into his eyes, and running her hand along his cheek. "Thank you." She whispered before leaning her head into his chest. Although the rush and intensity of emotions had been difficult to get a hold over, one thing she was sure of, she had never felt more protected than when she was with him.

* * *

As the days progressed, Hanna's emotions were becoming more and more erratic. A deep depression had seemed to take control over her, only breaking in bouts of either extreme happiness or anger, and hardly ever moving out of bed. Damon was patient, but was reaching his wit's end. So, he called over someone he normally would rather spend as little time with as possible: Caroline.

"Come _on_ Hanna, let's go!" Caroline chipperly tried to drag her sister out of bed, pulling the covers off her as she groaned. "I'll take you shopping if you get up! I know you wanted that new bag you spotted, now let's go!"

Damon leaned on the doorframe, rolling his eyes at her attempts. "You honestly think I haven't tried that one?"

"I don't know what you've done exactly Damon, but this is getting ridiculous."

"Can you both just leave me in peace, please." Hanna dramatically sighed as she turned away from them, grabbing the covers and pulling them around her again.

"Seriously? Hanna, I've had just about enough of this. Let's go." Caroline clapped her hands as if that would magically work wonders on her sister's frame of mind. She pulled the covers completely off the bed this time in one stroke, smiling in satisfaction. But, before she could blink, Hanna had leaped out of bed in a rage, grabbing her sister's neck and pinning her against the wall, unable to control her new found strength in another fit of rage.

"Hanna no!" Damon leapt from the doorway and immediately pried Hanna away, grabbing hold of her body, leaving Caroline breathing heavily from the shock. "Stop, Hanna. Stop." He rubbed her back as her face transformed back into the angelic blue-eyed look he was used to.

"Oh my god." Hanna shook her head in confusion, embracing Damon in a giant, protective hug, unsure exactly what was happening to her.

* * *

"You deceived me." Klaus scowled as he spat into his phone. "You tricked me into thinking it was Alison. I was ready to do what you asked, and now look what you've done!"

A deep, unidentifiable voice filled the other side of the phone. "You were getting far too distracted from our goal by emotionally involving yourself with Caroline. So, she had to be removed from the equation."

"You're gone too far this time. I will not be betrayed!" He yelled into the line.

"Calm down, Klaus, and focus on the mission, like I've asked."

In a rage of anger, Klaus flung the phone across his room, taking contentment in the crashing noise it made as his super strength caused it to shatter immediately on impact with the wall. He was not one to take being undermined or controlled in any fashion lightly, and this was no exception. –A had gone too far, and they were going to pay for what they did to him.


	41. 2:6 - The Fields Witches: A History

**2.6 - The Fields Witches: A History**

1864: Virginia

"Everything's set, Miss Katherine," a young woman spoke as she bowed her head politely to Katherine Pierce, who was propped up against a dainty stool as she primped her hair in the mirror and gazed admiringly at her reflection.

"Why thank you, Emily," Katherine replied without turning around, "After midnight, Damon, Stefan and I can finally be together, together forever." She muttered in her usual, distinctive sneer.

Emily Bennet raised her head at the sound of this statement, she wouldn't dare warn Miss Katherine against the dangers of messing with the two most noble gentlemen in Rosewood Falls. How could she tell Katherine that for Damon and Stefan to undergo their vampire transitions she would be violating a long-line of trust put forth by the rest of her witch ancestors and comrades who came before her?

"Miss Katherine, I must warn you, if this transition is complete, if I summon my powers to produce not one but two daylight rings for these boys, oversee their dual transitions, I'm not sure if I'll have enough, I don't know if I'll be able to live." Emily Bennet stopped. At the sound of her last few words, she had grabbed Katherine's attention.

Katherine zoomed towards Emily at vampire speed and tenderly stroked her cheek as if she were toying with a pet, "Emily, there's nothing to worry about. Everything should go accordingly. Now, if you would be so kind, make yourself useful and finish lacing my corset strings. I'm late to a date with Stefan Salvatore for this evening's summer festivities."

Reluctantly, Emily sighed to herself and obliged her 'friend's' orders. She knew that she couldn't summon the amount of power that Katherine Pierce was expecting her to. She needed help, and there was only one other witch that could help her: Rosella Fields.

* * *

"You have to tell her it can't be done, Emily. You can't keep sacrificing yourself and your powers for some vampire friend" Rosella Fields spoke through an angry, hushed, Southern tone. She had agreed to meet her witch friend, Emily Bennet in the woods - away from the prying, malicious eyes and ears of Katherine Pierce- to make one last effort that would convince Emily to betray her vampire 'friend' and re-join the supreme ranks of the Witches Council.

"That's why I need you to help me, Rosella." Emily replied through a pleading voice, "You're the only other witch I know who is powerful enough to help me with all of Katherine's schemes. I can't betray Katherine, Rosella. She knows too much about my past. About my family. The whole line of Bennet witches. Even your family."

Rosella rolled her eyes and cut Emily's sentence off. She couldn't take any more of her whining. "All right. I'll help you, but if anything happens to you, if you're content with risking your life, the lives of your family members and the rest of your little 'vampire' clan all because of one, selfish vampiress, I'll ensure that Katherine Pierce's whole entire line suffers and that, despite the amount of vampires that will prosper in this town for generations to come, there will always be a way, or a cure, to rid this world of that horrid species."

* * *

Fire engulfed the Salvatore mansion and the local church. After being exposed by Stefan Salvatore's father to the rest of the vampire hunters in Rosewood Falls, Katherine Pierce's plan had backfired completely and Emily Bennet's fears had come into fruition.

Emily Bennet and Rosella Fields stood in the middle of these two buildings, their arms and hands outstretched, their eyes completely white as they muttered continuous, ancient-like phrases under their breaths as they tried to contact generations of witches who could save them from this present chaos.

Suddenly, a young, pale-faced girl with raven-black hair ran between these two women, screaming in distress, "They've killed her! The men! They've killed my mother, Pearl!" she screamed, kneeling down towards these two witches as she tried to beg the two women for help, "Emily, Rosella, you have to stop this madness. You have to-"

Despite her screams, Emily could not rip herself away from the spell, she was now beginning to falter, she didn't know how long she could support herself through this dizzying spell madness.

"Hush child. There's no time for that now. You have to save yourself or those men will come for you next," Rosella whispered through a forceful tone to this crying young girl (or rather to the other young vampire, Annabelle - later known as Anna...).

Turning back towards Emily, she forced her friend to give up this magic, "Emily, go. Take Annabelle and go find the Salvatore Brothers. I won't allow you to lose your life over this, over these people."

Falling backwards from her previous stance, Emily lost complete control over the spell. Tearfully looking back at her friend, she grabbed Anna's hand and rushed hurriedly towards the woods without looking back. She couldn't bear to watch her friend die but she knew she would always be eternally grateful for her sacrifice.

Although she didn't look back, consumed by the obscene amount of magic around her, Rosella Fields slowly began to keel towards the ground until she eventually stopped moving.

* * *

1920: New Orleans, Louisiana

"My distant, distant ancestor, Rosella Fields created a spell that would protect our family from the existence of vampires. Legend has it the night she died tryin' to protect the Bennet witch, she used her last ounce of power to create a cure that would rid the world of vampires, and we are its sole protectors," Zerilda Fields muttered in her thick New Orleans, Creole accent.

"And what pray tell does my role play in all of this? I'm not a witch. I'm one of those vampires," Annabelle (or rather Anne) replied, as she crossed her arms defiantly over her chest.

Zerilda Fields smiled coyly at this naive yet precocious young girl, "Revenge, my dear girl." she whispered in a malicious tone, "Don't tell me you've really forgiven that selfish Katherine Pierce? Why, if it hadn't been for her actions to reunite with those Salvatore Brothers. Who knows? Maybe your dear mother would still be alive."

At the mention of her mother's name, Annabelle snarled her long teeth and prepared to pounce in attack on Zerilda.

However, in anticipation of her rushed actions, Zerilda moved her finger and brought Annabelle to her knees by simulating a pain that would rush through her entire brain and skull.

"Don't test me child. I need you to be on your best behavior. No one must know that the cure exists yet. When the time is right we will find that cure and destroy that Katherine Pierce once and for all. That selfish woman who stole our family and friends away from us for absolutely no reason. She will pay. And, if you agree to this, I may be able to bring your mother back to you. Just maybe."

* * *

1980: Chicago

"Hello Katherine," Anna spoke through a stone cold expression. After centuries of searching for the woman who was responsible for her mother's death, she had to restrain herself from ripping this vampiress' body open and letting her die right there on the floor of this (no doubt compelled) luxurious New York penthouse apartment.

Rolling her eyes, Katherine turned towards this young girl, "Wow, two old visitors in one week? How ever did I deserve to be so fortunate?" she replied sarcastically, referring to her former meeting with Stefan Salvatore.

"Oh stop with the nice act, Katherine." Annabelle snapped at her, "You betrayed us vampires and witches for those pathetic, love sick Salvatore Brothers. It's because of you that my mother is dead. My whole life in 1864 was ruined because of you -"

Looking smugly at Annabelle, Katherine sprinted towards her at vampire speed and pinned her to the ground, "Don't you dare! Your mother was my dearest, closest friend. I would never ever betray her. If you want someone to blame, blame the Salvatore family, or even that insane Jonathan GIlbert who was in love with your mother, because they're to blame for all of this, not m-"

Suddenly, Katherine stopped talking. As she stared at Anna who was struggling and wiggling underneath her vice grip, she had a brilliant idea come over her.

"Actually, there is a way that you could help me." Katherine whispered with a malicious, calculating grin on her face.

"Why would I help you?" Anna muttered, glaring back at Katherine, "What do you want?"

"Let's just say I have some unfinished business with the Salvatore brothers and I'm looking for some help to take them down, or more specifically, to destroy them,"

Anna stopped struggling and stood up hesitatingly, "I'll never help you, Katherine, even if you didn't cause the fire, your selfish actions put us all at risk in 1864, and I will never forgive you for that."

Bolting towards Katherine, Anna rushed towards her and snapped her neck. With a thud, Katherine fell to the ground in a temporary unconscious state. Then, nodding in approval of her actions, Anna smile confidently to herself, "Yeah, sleep now, bitch. I think I'm going rogue on this one."

* * *

Present Day: Rosewood Falls

"So let me get this straight, my great-great-ancestor, one of the founding witches in 1864 and your great great whatever ancestor were somehow best friends. Mine sacrificed her life for yours and..." Emily said to Bonnie, scratching her head as if she were trying to wrap her mind around all of this new information and history about her family.

"And Rosella and Zerilda Fields, two of the greatest witches in your clan were the protectors of the cure that could extinguish all vampires from the earth. When Rosella Fields died, Zerilda swore to take revenge on all vampires, whatever the cost." Bonnie muttered, as she gazed directly into Emily's confused and worried eyes. This had been the first time that she had seen Bonnie since the Halloween Dance and she couldn't help but feel guilty by unloading all of this new information on her.

"So, what does that make me?" Emily replied, her voice began to shake. Despite only learning about her witch powers last year when she was dating Bonnie, she hadn't found the courage to explore them after Bonnie had left town.

"As one of the protectors of this unknown cure, you are the only living witch who could unlock its location and the cure itself. That's why all of these new vampires are back in town. Also why I think that this insane -A person is here as well. That's what I called to warn you about Emily." Bonnie whispered hurriedly, as she started to reach out for Emily's hand.

Looking downwards ashamedly at her feet, Emily had a sudden flashback to Bonnie's old voicemail that she had deleted when she considering dating Jeremy.

Even though she couldn't read minds, Bonnie knew Emily never listened to her message, "Em. I know that this is hard."

Emily rolled her eyes, "Ugh. I'm tired of having this same conversation. First Jeremy, then you, then all this -A crap and now all of this witch insaneness, I can't take it!," she yelled, slamming both her hands to her face in exasperation.

Moving cautiously towards Emily, Bonnie placed her hands gently on her shoulders, "I know it's hard, Em. You don't have to make any decisions, even though I want you too, but in the meantime. I'm going to be here to help you. We can't let what happened to you at the Halloween Dance happen again. You can do this, Emily. For both our ancestor's sakes. You need to protect the cure away from all of the rest of the vampires who are after it at this present moment."

Emily looked towards Bonnie. Every time she looked at her, she felt an overwhelming sense of guilt: for Jeremy, for breaking up with Bonnie. She felt an aching pain in her heart every time she thought of any of this. She didn't know how to be herself nevertheless how to be a freaking witch, but all of this was bigger than her present situation, "Okay," she said with a slight sense of reluctance, "I'll do it. I can do it. Just teach me how to be a witch then."


	42. 2:7 - Hanna Marin, Vampire

**2.7 - Hello, My Name is Hanna Marin, and I'm a Vampire**

Aria swung open the door, welcoming her friends inside the house. She had finally moved back in with her family, Damon, and now a recovering vampire Hanna. After the events at the Masquerade Dance, and how much Emily and Spencer were put in danger, she knew it was time for them to learn the truth that only she and Hanna knew so far. "Guys, I need to tell you something, and I need you not to freak out."

"What is it, Aria?" Spencer questioned with a raise of her brow as she and Emily made her way into Aria's living room.

"Yeah, is everything okay?" Emily was a little nervous at her friend's tone of voice. After everything that had happened lately, she didn't need another disaster in her life.

"Kind of, well, not really….look, you should probably all sit down." Aria sat on the couch as she motioned for her friends to do the same. "You know how Hanna and I have been sort of secretive lately?"

Spencer nodded with a shrug, "I just figured it was the whole boyfriend situation."

"Well, we started doing some of our own research on the history of Rosewood Falls, and we found out some pretty _unbelievable_ stuff." Aria began, hesitating with her words.

"Such as?" Spencer's eyes narrowed. She had started to do some of her own research, and she had only come up with some pretty wild stuff that must have been fake.

"Vampires." Aria stared at them with a stone-faced expression.

"Aria, you can't be serious." Spencer laughed awkwardly, remembering some of the articles she had breezed through, assuming they were only local myths.

"Come on guys, I need you to just trust me for a second." Aria knew this wasn't going to be an easy conversation.

"You mean there are supernatural creatures just running around Rosewood?" Emily played along, pretending as if the conversation she had with Bonnie yesterday hadn't happened yet. She still wasn't positive she believed everything she had told her, even if it all somehow fit together. But how could she be a witch, let alone be surrounded by vampires? It all sounded a little insane, and she wasn't quite ready to tell her secret to the other girls just yet. So, for now it was between her and Bonnie until she had a hold on what was going on.

Aria nodded. "That's exactly what I mean. I'm only telling you this because you need to know, you need to prepare yourselves."

"For what?" Spencer's eyes narrowed, getting more and more nervous for what was to come.

"For seeing Hanna again. Come on, let's go, and I'll show you." Aria led the girls up to Damon's room, who was away for the day gathering more blood for Hanna, who still refused to leave the house, much less the room. Aria had visited every now and again, but Damon was worried Hanna might snap around Aria like she had at Caroline quite a few times now, and he wasn't quite ready to have to save his sister as well. Aria hoped a visit from the girls might help Hanna's peace of mind, and show her that life really wasn't going to be that bad as a vampire.

"Hanna?" Aria peaked in through the door into the dimly lit room, "They're here."

Hanna stirred in her bed and sat up fully, still in her pajamas and looking a little disheveled. She had never felt more relieved in her life to see three familiar faces staring back at her. She was still so wary over her newfound extreme emotions, and she couldn't hold back the tears of happiness trying to make their way through. "God, look at me, I'm as crazy as a pregnant lady." Hanna laughed for probably the first time in weeks. "I just seriously missed you guys."

"We missed you too, Han!" Spencer exclaimed, slightly shocked at the appearance of her usually flawless best friend. Not that she wasn't gorgeous as always, in fact, she had almost an eerily perfect complexion to her skin and her eyes seemed almost a more piercing blue, but there was an aura of despair in the room that was hard to ignore.

All the girls rushed to her side in a giant hug, trying to lift her spirits, even though Emily and Spencer were still a little unsure of what was going on.

"Alright Han, it's time to show them. Think you can do it?" Aria encouraged her friend to show off the greater aspects of becoming a vampire.

Hanna actually felt a little proud for the first time as she nodded her head and began to race around the room showing off her super speed. With a hint of a smile, she picked up the bed, before throwing in back down into its place. She finished off her little show with a glimpse of her new true, vampire face, letting the red veins transform and her eyes turn a bloody red, only to fade quickly back to her usual, sweet look.

Spencer and Emily stood in shock, unable to get out a word. There was no doubt about it; their friend was a vampire.

* * *

"Lucy, I'm home!" Damon called throughout the house, referencing one of his favorite, old television shows as he slammed the door behind him. Blood bags in hand, he had come back with supplies from the hospital yet again, which Hanna seemed to be running through faster than he ever could have expected. Luckily, he had one of the young nurses under compulsion, who would practically hand him the bags the second he stepped in the place.

Hanna managed an unenthusiastic, "Hey." She sat staring in front of the fireplace, practically in a trance at the sight of the climbing flames, stuck in her strange stupor.

Damon, on the other hand, could not have been more ecstatic. She was actually out of bed! It had been weeks now, and the most he had been able to get her out was across the room, let alone downstairs. It was kind of a lame accomplishment, but at the circumstances, he'd take it. "Hey? All I get is a hey? Hanna you're out of bed! Finally, time to stop moping around, and get with it. Now this is cause for a celebration." He headed to the cabinet with a plastered grin to grab a bottle of champagne.

Hanna just rolled her eyes, unamused by the enthusiasm. "I'm about to head back if you keep talking like that." She got up and made her way to the staircase, only to be stopped halfway by Damon.

"Don't be such a spoiled sport. So, what got you out of the funk?" He had gently grabbed her by the shoulders to stop her from going back into the gloom of his bedroom.

"I'm still in the funk, Damon. I'm practically in the 70's." Hanna flailed her arms with a huge sigh as she spoke. "But, since you asked, the girls came over, and I finally told them everything. And I showed them the things I've been working on with Care, and it was actually, kinda great." She hinted at a smile as she looked up at him. It was almost exciting.

Damon felt such relief at her words after the last few weeks. He brought her closer and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Yes! I am so proud of you, you know that?"

Hanna sighed again as she plopped herself down on the couch next to them. "I just can't control all these emotions, it's like being on a rollercoaster twenty four hours a day, which is kind of insane, because who would ever want to do that. Everyone knows the best part of amusement parks is the food. I mean, you saw what I did to Care the other day, what if I can't ever control these things? What if I really hurt someone?"

Damon took a seat next to her, taking her hand as his eyes narrowed. "You know, I think it's time for me to tell you about my start as a vampire."

"Now that's an image I can't quite picture." Hanna laughed, imagining the worst.

"Trust me you wouldn't want to. I was hot headed, I drank more alcohol than a reality tv show wife, and I went through years of a pointless, listless existence because the woman I loved who created me and turned me, left me completely to myself. I was alone, and pretty damn scared, and had no freakin' idea what I was doing." He shook his head as he recounted the past, something he usually didn't take much pleasure in doing, but this situation was going to be an exception.

"Katherine, right? She just...left you?" Hanna inquired with a tilt of her head. She had heard various mentions of Katherine, mostly overheard conversations between him and Stefan, or during their planning sessions with Aria. She wasn't clear on the details of the relationship between the two best friends and the vampiress, but she knew it wasn't a positive one.

"She was only interested in herself, and she used me and Stefan to stay alive. But Hanna, you are not alone. You have your sister, and your friends, and you will always have me. I'm not going anywhere, whether you like it or not. So, you better get used to it, because I promise you, I will never leave you again. Just try, for my sake? I know you can be an incredible vampire. I mean, look at you, you've always had the right attitude, you just need to learn. Caroline and I have agreed to put aside our large differences, and teach you everything you need to know." Damon brushed a stray hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear as she spoke, brushing her cheek in a loving way.

Hanna could feel tears welling up for the trillionth time over the last few weeks. There go the emotions again. "I don't know what to say. Damon, you've just been so incredible, I don't know how to thank you for all this. Seriously, even if I don't always show it, just know, okay?"

"I can think of a few ways..." Damon raised an eyebrow at her suggestively, his signature devilish grin spreading across his face as she laughed. "Let me show you the other great thing about being a vampire." He grabbed her at the waist, pulling her body forward towards his on the couch, leaning her into a passionate kiss. With vampire speed, the mood completely shifted gears in a second as they tore at one another's clothes, scattering them across the room. The kiss moved with them from every surface of the room, from the couch, to against the wall, the counter, you name it. This was definitely going to be a part of vampirism Hanna was going to enjoy. With a raise of his eyebrow, Damon scooped her up as she laughed, and sped off at lightning speed towards the bedroom, which would hopefully be a little less gloomy after tonight.


	43. 2:8 - To Cure or Not to Cure

**2.8 - To Cure or Not to Cure**

"So there is a way to save Hanna from staying a vampire?" Spencer said in a serious yet shocked manner. Spencer, Emily, Stefan and Damon stood in Aria's kitchen. For days they had been trying to plot a scheme that could try to possibly either help or save Hanna from staying permanently as one of the bloodsucking, 'undead.'

"That's what we think anyway," Stefan replied as he looked from Spencer and gestured to himself and Damon at his mention of 'we.'

"So what is it like a potion, or whatever?" Emily muttered, shifting her eyes to try to hide the fact that she already knew about this mysterious cure.

Damon examined the ring of his whiskey glass carefully and looked up at the two girls, "No one knows. We only heard about it from Katherine briefly in 1864, but I'm not going to lie, both of us were understandably too preoccupied to pursue that little detail." He responded with a cheeky raise of his eyebrows.

Spencer rolled her eyes at Damon and let out a frustrating sigh, "So, how exactly do we go about finding this 'cure' then?"

Before Damon could chime in with some witty response, Aria began to walk downstairs to the kitchen with a wearied, yet stronger-looking Hanna following behind her.

"Hey guys, guess who decided to come down and see us." Aria chimed in, as she tried to force an uncomfortable yet reassuring smile at the rest of the group.

All the girls beamed at Hanna, "Hey Han, how're you feeling?" Emily asked politely, trying to decide how far to get close to her new vampire friend.

"I don't want the cure," Hanna stated bluntly as she crossed her arms defiantly across her chest and flipped her long blond hair across her pale, ivory-colored shoulder.

Everyone's eyes widened. Clearly Damon and Stefan forgot to warn them about a vampire's enhanced hearing. At the sound of her statement, Damon began to inch towards Hanna, "Hanna ... are you su-?"

Before he could finish his sentence, Hanna turned around to face the group and cut him off, "No! Listen to me. I don't want to change myself" Hanna sniped, "I like who I am."

Aria spoke up timidly, "Han, what're you talking about?" she whispered, grabbing Stefan's hand out of sense of needed protection.

Hanna rolled her eyes. Relishing her new, heightened, sassy and fearless attitude, "You guys don't get it. After all these weeks of going through this freaking roller coaster of emotions, I'm finally in control of myself! Of my life! I feel like I can do whatever I want, say whatever I want. "

Stefan and Damon became tense at all of these familiar vampire-esque 'signs' that Hanna was now exhibiting. Cautiously stepping in front of Aria and towards Hanna, Stefan cleared his throat, "Hanna, I know it may seem like you have all of this figure out but -"

"You don't," Damon sniped. "Han, didn't you listen to anything I told you? You may think you have everything figured out right now, but Hanna, it's seriously dangerous. Look at how you almost attacked Caroline! Your own sister! You don't have enough control over yourself yet, and I don't know if I can watch you suffer through all of this."

"Hm, well I guess we'll just have to see about that." Hanna replied in a snarky manner. Suddenly, her face began to change, her eyes became black, her teeth began to snarl in preparation of a vampire attack. However, without thinking, Stefan and Damon pounced on Hanna and tackled her to the ground.

"Stefan! Help me get Hanna back up stairs!" Damon yelled as he fumbled with Hanna and tried to restrain her from attacking the rest of her friends.

When Hanna was out of sight, the girls tried to overhear her protesting screams, Spencer looked over at her two other best friends who had tearful, worried expressions on their faces, "Okay, I think we really need to find that cure now." She spoke.

* * *

Walking back downstairs, Stefan found Aria tidying up the kitchen. As Spencer and Emily had left a few hours ago, Aria had tried to keep her distance from all the chaos that was still probably going on upstairs.

"How're you doing with all of this?" Stefan asked, as he began to walk towards Aria's side of the kitchen counter.

Aria smiled nervously, "Honestly? I don't know how much more I can take of this." She replied, looking directly into Stefan's eyes, "I don't know if I can take watching my best friend go through a constant range of emotions every single day of my life and living in a constant state of terror that she could potentially try to either kill me or any of my other best friends," she stated bluntly as her words began to blubber over each other, trying to contain all of her conflicting emotions.

"I know it's hard." Stefan whispered, as he started to embrace Aria, "But Damon and I know what Hanna's going through. When all of this happened to me, I became the absolute worst version of myself and I hated who I had become, but I didn't have anyone to help me through the pain."

Aria looked up toward Stefan. In all of this madness, she had to sometimes remind herself that her own boyfriend was one of those vampires, "You've never really talked about what happened after you became a vampire." She muttered with a slight shrug of her shoulders, as if to sort of nudge Stefan into telling her more about what exactly happened during and after his supernatural transition.

Stefan gazed over Aria's head and then back into her eyes, as if trying to reflect upon all of the centuries of his vampire life, "I know, and I'm sorry. It's just... It took me a long time to get to the person that I am now. Actually, the person that I am right now is probably the closest to who I was back in 1864 to be honest. But, probably way less naive," he chuckled, "There were so many times when I was in the darkest of places because I had turned my humanity completely off in order to go on massive vampire rampages that could possibly last for days and days and days." Stefan's words began to falter, "I would then just be consumed with incessant feelings of guilt every time I had an urge to feed or kill anyone that got in my way -" he cut himself off, overcome with too many emotions to finish his sentence.

Looking at Stefan's distressed face, Aria motioned for them to sit down and placed her arm over Stefan's shoulders in a comforting manner, "I know it hasn't been easy for you. But, if you weren't here, I don't know how I'd be handle myself through any of this."

Stefan looked up from his his hands covering his face and smiled at Aria. Taking her hands, he spoke, "I need you to listen to me, Aria. Since you've already seen what could happen to Hanna within a few seconds, how quickly a vampire can fly off the rails, I need you to know how grateful I am that I have you here. How grateful Hanna is that you, Emily and Spencer are here even if it may not seem like it at this present moment." He continued, "Because when I'm around you, when I'm with you. I'm calm. I'm the person that I want to be."

Aria smiled flirtatiously at Stefan and inched closer to his face, "And I'm not going anywhere, Stefan. From you, Damon or Hanna." She whispered, "I'll always be here for you, and for everyone else."

Placing his hands on Aria's cheeks, Stefan looked deeply into Aria's hazel-brown eyes and gently kissed her on the lips. Aria placed her hands behind Stefan's neck. However, hearing the distant sounds of Damon's footsteps echoing down the hallway towards them, they removed themselves from this position and continued to busy themselves with tidying up the rest of the kitchen.

Then, as the sounds of the footsteps began to fade away, Aria turned again towards Stefan, "I'm not scared of you Stefan, or Hanna and Damon for that matter. I'm just scared of what will happen in the future. What it means for us, what'll happen if you ever go off the rails and become the type of vampire you were before that clearly wasn't the actual you."

Stefan turned around and spoke in his usual calm, rational composure, "And I can't promise you that I won't go off the rails. I mean, I really wish I could, but I can promise that I will never hurt you, Aria and that Damon and I can handle this Hanna situation because we have been through all of this before," he moved his thumb gently across Aria's cheek bone. "However, just know that even if Hanna doesn't want the cure now, we just have to accept the fact that she wants to stay a vampire because that's her choice, and that's also very important."

At these last few words, Aria smiled and gave Stefan one last, lingering kiss and a hug. Every time he held her, she always felt protected. She didn't even care that this potentially dangerous creature was embracing her, she just couldn't even think of the inevitable future where and when Stefan would turn of his humanity because it would probably, undoubtedly, break her heart.


	44. 2:9 - The Beginning

**2.9 - The Beginning**

Spencer could hardly get herself out of bed this morning, so it was a good thing it was a Saturday, or she'd be sleeping in the back of Mr. Fitz's class again for the third time this week. After seeing Hanna in her new state, going through that awkward confrontation, learning about supernatural beings existing in Rosewood Falls, and that some of her friends were _vampires_ was a little too much information to process all at once. Spencer being her usual, obsessively informed self, had spent the majority of her free time over the last few days reading endless articles, books, and journals on the subject. It was partially a way of coping, and partially a way of digging deeper into the new information on the cure.

It seemed as though A had taken a little break since the dramatic school fire, and the technical death of Hanna. Spencer hoped that maybe their actions had gone further than they'd expected, and they had just given up the chase, though the greater part of her knew that wasn't true. In a bizarrely coincidental moment, her phone lit up, buzzing with a text next to her bed. Spencer swallowed hard; afraid of what she knew was coming.

" **Did you miss me, Spencer? Don't want you to get too comfortable, especially since your boyfriend's got a secret, just as big as the last one you heard. It's your turn for a confrontation. Oh, don't forget to bring garlic. - A"**

* * *

After her surge of bizarre empowerment the other day in front of everyone, Damon knew he had to start vampire training with Hanna, and he had to do it now. If she wanted to remain like this, which honestly, he wasn't going to argue with her staying alive with him forever, then she'd have to know how to handle her new state of being. Hanna's emotions began to flip flop to an even more extreme level, and he was worried without new guidance, she might just shut off her humanity without thinking, or fully knowing what exactly she was doing.

Hanna was suddenly excited about the idea of learning how to use her new powers. Now that her passage of extreme depression had passed, it was replaced with an almost frantic, erratic energy of over confidence. This, however, was not the training she had in mind.

"No, Damon, that is not the best way to compel someone, you don't want to be Captain Obvious! But clearly, that is not your strong suit." Caroline rolled her eyes at Damon with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Oh, well I'm sorry my way wasn't good enough for you, Barbie. Next time, should I just announce it to the room instead? Obvious enough for you?" Damon bit back with an aggravated toss of his hands.

Hanna had been listening to the two of them bicker back and forth for what seemed like hours now. At least the sarcastic exchanges she had with Damon were flirty and laced with sexual tension. These arguments were just plain old tense, and she had just about enough of it.

"Seriously guys? Can we just focus here? How am I ever going to be able to learn if you both won't quit arguing?" Hanna yelled at the two to get their attention. They both stood awkwardly mumbling an apology before exchanging bitter glances.

"Fine." Carloline stepped towards her sister, putting her hand on her shoulder. "You're right, let's just do this. Damon, just shut up and stop contradicting me, and everything will be great."

"Fine." Damon glared at Caroline, speaking through visibly gritted teeth. He wanted to move forward just as much as anyone.

"Alright well, next topic. Animal blood. Damon bit a rabbit a while ago and hid it, so if you just focus, you should be able to smell the blood, okay? Now let's try it." Caroline reassured her sister as she watched her close her eyes in concentration. "Can you smell it?"

But Hanna's new heightened senses were not triggering. She shut her eyes even harder, trying her best to find the smell. She could smell every aspect of the trees around them in the woods, the musky bark, the light changing leaves, the mossy dirt below their feet, but definitely no blood. "I can't smell it." Hanna whispered, unwilling to say the words.

"That's okay, just concentrate, I'm sure it just takes a minute." Caroline encouraged her, keeping her hand lightly on her sister's shoulder.

"I can't smell it, Care!" Hanna yelled suddenly, her frustration blowing through the roof in a seconds notice. She shoved her sister's hand off her, and stomped a few feet away.

Caroline and Damon exchanged glances again, but this time ones of complete concern. Hanna's outbursts and heightened emotions were getting more and more extreme by the second.

Damon nodded at Caroline before approaching Hanna hesitantly. "Hey, it's okay, you're doing great! I mean when I was at your stage I probably would have torn up this entire forest by now, and you've clearly got that under control right?" He laughed, trying to cheer her up. "Hey, look at me. You've got this."

Hanna glanced up into his glassy blue eyes, and took a deep breath, closing her eyes once more. She concentrated on the smells around her, the trees, the moss, the leaves...but nothing came. "I can't smell it! I can't do this, I just can't! I'm never going to be able to do this, any of it!" Hanna screamed at the top of her lungs, and in the blink of an eye, had disappeared at super speed into the distance.

"Well, at least she's got that down." Damon chuckled nervously, trying to ignore his panicked concern. Caroline rolled her eyes and responded with a shove to his shoulder. This was going to be a whole lot harder than either of them had thought.

* * *

"Is it true?" Spencer practically had tears in her eyes after she took the walk to the Mikaelson mansion, thinking obsessively over the text she had received from A earlier that day.

"Is what true?" Elijah looked at the beautiful woman standing in front of him, unsure what exactly could be troubling her this much. "Spencer, are you alright?" He questioned with a puzzled expression.

"Are you..." Spencer began, but was practically unable to get out the words. "Are you a...a.." She shook her head before continuing. "Elijah, are you a vampire?" She whispered the words, unable to comprehend the fact that she was actually speaking them out loud to another human being, let alone the man she had come to have serious feelings for.

Elijah stood stunned in front of her, now he was unsure of what to say. "So you know." He sighed simply, not needing to know the details of how she had found out his darkest secret he wished he could hide from her forever.

Spencer let out a distressed, choked laugh. "It's true then. What is happening in this town? I mean, how insane is it that I'm actually seriously saying these words to you right now." She continued as she paced around his living room, letting out some of her nervous energy.

"Spencer, I wanted to keep you from this life. You should not have to be burdened with these things. However, I don't wish to hide anything from you, I was waiting to tell you at the opportune moment." Elijah stared at her, keeping his calm composure.

"The opportune moment? Oh, when was that going to be, Elijah? Hey Spencer, just thought I should mention that I drink people's blood to stay alive, thought this would be a good time to let you know!" Spencer's nervous laughter continued, as she flailed her arms in frustration. How was this actually happening?

"Spencer, please. Now that you know, I can tell you everything you wish to know, I swear to you I would never hurt you."

"I know, I know." Spencer muttered, barely able to look at him. "You are one of the kindest, strongest men I've ever met, Elijah. I mean that." Spencer shook her head as she continued. "But I can't have this in my life, this supernatural stuff. First there's Hanna, then Stefan and Damon, and now you, who's next? Me? I just, I can't do this Elijah. I'm sorry."


End file.
